Hallelujah
by nanirain
Summary: SasuSaku. You're annoying, Sakura. She smiled at him, which was unexpected, after a moment of silence: Your kind of annoying too. She said. Just tell me what's wrong with her! Maybe if you hadnt left us behind you'd know! [also NaHi, NeTe, others?]
1. Intentional

**A/N**: Hey. A new fanfiction. Hopefully it will turn out well. I finally got the guts to write for one of my favorite pairings. Hope you like.

**Disclaimer**: No recognizable material belongs to me.

* * *

It simply had to be intentional… it _had _to be. There was no way that this woman, he thought angrily to himself, didn't know _exactly _what she was doing.

Her eyes bored straight into his face, and Sasuke found himself in a particularly gruesome stare-of-death stalemate. He didn't like that. And he didn't ever remember it having happened to him before either – not even with the Dobe. He disliked that as well.

"My decision is final, Sasuke." She said coldly. "And you are not going to change - my - mind."

His was honestly doing his best to make her feel physical pain by staring at her. As in, real, true, legitimate, _pain_…

"You're dismissed." She said, still glaring over the top of her paperwork, readers glasses that she wore over her work making her look strangely more stern and less like the librarian he would have pictured her to be with them on. She was not getting away with this.

Sasuke rose from his chair, embittered, and still glaring with all his power at his village's Hokage. The blonde woman didn't even budge. She merely held his hot-black gaze until he finally, with one last look of contempt, broke it and walked towards the door. Only seconds after he'd left, she could have sworn she'd heard a loud crack.

She hesitated, then gave a grim sort of smile as she stood up, chair scraping, and walked outside to examine it for herself. Two minutes later found her staring dryly at a suspiciously Uchiha-fist-shaped hole in the middle of her newly re-painted wall, and a dark-haired Uchiha walking silently out the double doors at the other end. The _only_ Uchiha…

For a moment she considered hauling the arrogant nineteen year old back into her office to yell at him, and ultimately bite his head off. But she hesitated. Through the glass window-pane she watched him move steadily away, through dim lit-hall, alone. One second of hesitation was all it took, for the last Uchiha to be gone all over again. Hokage stood and stared after her mistake for a while, and then closed herself back inside the safety of her office. She didn't resume her paper-work, which would have had any self-respecting member of ANBU wary and cautious. But instead, she removed her glasses and stared hard out her window that overlooked the city, hand over her mouth in thought.

What was she going to do with that boy? The troubled teen, who, only a few hours ago, had been dragged into her office by a loud and obnoxiously over-confident blonde. Naruto had unconsciously smeared two shades of blood all over her floor.

"I found him." The sandy blonde had panted; head hung heavy, body in the shape of exhaust. He looked up at her with a big, stupid grin. "I _finally_ got the damn bastard back!"

And then they'd both collapsed, Naruto, just like Sasuke, passed out cold.

"Hey!" The Hokage had snapped, sitting up a bit more, staring at their still bodies. "Not on _my_ carpet…!"

… Dead silence proved to her that Naruto had, in fact, passed out, if not from exhaust, then from sheer blood loss. And the Uchiha… she hadn't even known whether he had been conscious in the first place. She didn't even know if he was alive… She stared in slight shock at them for a bit longer before pressing down her intercom. She called the first person she could think of.

Beep.

"Hokage-san?" The voice on the other side was clear and sweet, and waiting for any kind of instruction.

"Get into my office." Hokage said crisply into the intercom, her fingers pressing down a little bit too hard on TALK. "There's something in here that I'll want to be cleaned up."

"Alright, Hokage-san."

Click.

_Well._ The Hokage had thought as she continued to stare blankly at the two boys collapsed and panting on her floor. _I suppose things are looking up._

Wrong.

* * *

A/N: posting two at once... 


	2. Full Circle

Sakura had freaked out when she saw the boys lying on Hokage's rug. And that was how the whole thing had started. It wasn't the kind of freak-out where she sobbed and turned to hysterics on the floor. She never cried, never grabbed their bodies to her, never even batted an eye. If that had happened, then she would have proved herself to be useless as both a ninja and as Hokage's apprentice.

A ninja shows no emotion. It is a weakness. (A/N: double meaning implied).

"Sasuke-kun…" She merely said, staring at the two mangled bodies with vibrant green eyes, only a little wider then they should have been, her lips parted in something like shock.

"You know these boys, don't you Sakura?" The Hokage had asked through pressed, thin lips.

Her startled green eyes flitted from the blood on the floor to the Hokage's face… back to the blood again.

"Sakura."

"Hai." She finally seemed to force herself to focus, and managed to look her master in the eye, but… where was her mind?

With a sigh, the tall blonde woman waved her hand. "Please, take them away."

"Away?" Sakura echoed, her voice hollow as a shell, and the word seeming to crack her throat.

"To the hospital wing…" the Hokage said. "Where they will be taken _care_ of without questioning."

"Without questioning…" Sakura repeated, but now her tone showed that she understood. She looked back down to the blood on the floor, tattered clothes, beaten, bruised skin, split lips… deep cuts. There were going to be at least one or two scars apiece to each boy.

"Sakura."

"OK." The young girl, now eighteen years old, looked up at her master. "I understand."

"Good…" The Hokage stretched back exhaustedly into her seat, her fingers massaging her temples. "Assemble a task force of people you trust to transport them…"

Sakura's eyes flit down to the floor, but this time out of shame. The Hokage's eyes sharpened.

"It would be easier, Hokage… _faster_ if you would let me-"

"No."

Sakura's jade green eyes met her teacher's, startled, and found a hard brown stare leveling her to the ground.

"Absolutely _not_." The Hokage said, her voice cut-throat and threatening. "Assemble a team of people. People you _trust_. I will take care of everything else…"

"Alright." Sakura said, looking at the ground, and at the blood again. Then, she looked up at her Hokage, and smiled. "Thank you, Hokage!" She said, with a quick bow. She ran out of the room to assemble her team and the Hokage found herself sitting alone with the two unconscious boys… worrying.

_Back to now:_

The Hokage closed her eyes at the memory of Sakura's face, and put her glasses back on, and sat down at her desk. She pulled out her first file and began to read through it, but her mind was somewhere else completely.

She had a very bad feeling that the frown line between her eyes wouldn't fade for a while this time. And as she detachedly thought back onto yesterday's memory, the steady breaths of the two men in front of her, she studied the young dark haired man, and thought of everything they had lost because of him… and what she was afraid she had destroyed for him, selfishly.

She wondered if it was too late… for all of them.

_12 Hours ago_.

Sakura had only meant to glance at them, give them a quick check up before she made herself something to eat, but as soon as she saw them again, she found herself unable to move, appetite gone.

There they were, just like that, lying on her pull-out couch like two dead bodies... too still and too motionless. She'd been treating them for hours, but she supposed she had never actually _looked_ at them until now. She hadn't allowed it to sink in… and now that was the only thing left to do. Sakura Haruno found herself staring at two out of the only three men in her life that she'd ever actually loved. And they were both unconscious.

Slowly, she stood from her seat on their couch arm, eyelids rough and unforgiving. They were bandaged, their shirts she had cut off to clean their wounds, and she could tell just from handling them that their bodies were very sore. The blood that she had cleaned from their skin was left in a pile of dirty rags in a bucket somewhere on the floor. She sighed, and ran her fingers through her shortish pink hair, pulled at the her long-sleeved PJ shirt with the sleeves that stretched passed her knuckles and a hem that hit her mid-thigh, her soffee shorts hidden underneath, as if the two unconscious boys could see her.

And she was still unable to relax. Even though she'd finally pushed Neji and Shikamaru out of her apartment, who'd stayed long enough to help her clean the boys up, and then watched over them while she showered and changed. She'd figured that they'd be the two who would be willing to help and the least likely to tell, and that's why she'd chosen them. But now that she'd finally convinced them to leave, her apartment was eerie and still. Her world seemed to revolve around the rise and falls of Naruto and Sasuke's chests. She could feel her focus getting smaller and smaller, crushing them, sucking her down.

Her arm were crossed around her stomach, her right fingertips playing with a charm on her necklace, dragging the silver chain around her lower lip slowly.

What was she going to do?

"_Sakura, you're annoying." _

"_Sasuke's like a brother to him. That's why he'll never stop looking." _

"_You didn't lose your life that day only because it was on a whim of mine…." _

"_I severed those bonds."_

She pulled herself out of her reverie when Sasuke began to stir. His hair had grown a bit longer, though he styled it in the same way. And his face was also thinner at the cheeks, more angled at the jaw. She had stared at him for long enough to realize that Sasuke, the 13-year-old boy who had left them so long ago, had turned into a young man. She didn't know what to think of that. But then, she never really had thought of Sasuke as being a child anyway. With a weak noise from the back of his throat, the dark-haired teen rolled his now older, handsomer face to the side, his expression taught, with the longer, darker hair falling over his skin, which was still pale white. The movement exposed all the skin on the back of his shoulder, and something else that was tucked inside nook of his neck. Sakura froze when she saw the imprint on his skin. The seal. Or, what was left of it anyway.

She wished she knew what had happened. She wished she knew why the long, clean marks that used to stick onto him like black ink had now faded to small barely-there imprints on his skin… what had happened between him and Orochimaru? What had Sasuke had to do to him?

Eventually she found herself standing on the other side of the room, leaning up against the wall as she watched them sleep. She was barely conscious as she slid down to her ankles, back still pressed flat against the wall, her body slowly giving out, no matter how hard she tried to will her eyes open. They grew heavier and heavier, and slowly they closed shut. Her hand dropped from the charm on her necklace to her lap as she dozed off. And on the pull out bed only a few feet away, Sasuke Uchiha had opened his eyes.

10 Hours Ago:

The first thing he knew was that the walls were made of soft, white plaster, instead of stone, so it was not Orochimaru's. But that was before he remembered that Orochimaru was dead. And he'd never be able to confine himself in that cold dark room again. He sat there thinking about it, but whether he was relieved or just anxious about the change, he couldn't tell… he was just… hn.

He also knew that he couldn't really breathe as easily as he should have been able to. And that there was an intense, mind-shattering pain in his chest. He lifted his fingers and brushed against his bandages, but even that hurt. He'd broken a rib… or four, and the rest of his body was numb.

Beside him the dobe was breathing steadily, but seeing as how they were both shirtless and bandaged up, he figured that he must have also had his fair share of injuries… Sasuke stared darkly at his friend. He was not surprised. He knew that one day, at the end of it all, if it didn't go his way, he would end up back in Konoha, with Naruto having dragged him all the way back. Tactless. And moronic, as usual.

He rolled his head back into place and stared at the ceiling again. The plaster still looked strange instead of stone. He slowly thought to sit up, but the pain lanced through his body hard and shoved him back down. He figured if he even considered trying to walk, he'd collapse.

The fight with Itachi… well… Sasuke stared blankly at the walls, numb. It had been horrible. And he wasn't… happy. Had he expected himself to be? He lay there, irritated, feeling a heat start to build up from his stomach while his fists gripped the sheets with anger. He had gotten his revenge. He was the last Uchiha. But why did he still feel like beating someone to death? Naruto winced in his sleep and moved slightly, Sasuke rolled his head to the side. Anything to get farther away from the Dobe.

He caught sight of her hair before anything else, damp and skimming her shoulders that were cloaked by a large cotton shirt, with sleeves that stretched all the way down to her knuckles.

Sasuke felt a surprising amount of nothingness as he looked at the pink-haired girl coiled against the wall a few feet away, her head hung and face curtained by silky rose colored hair. Hair that he had known so well as a boy…

And Nartuo was lying beside him, as if they were still comrades. As if they were still friends. Suddenly their presences were crushing all around him, making him feel claustrophobic and pressured. None of this was really happening. He felt the surrealism gush through his body and rip him up in shreds until he sort of believed that he wasn't actually seeing anything real.

It was too strange to be real, too perfect and at the same time wrong, and mostly it felt…normal.

And that was wrong as well.

As he laid there, staring at her, numbly, his dark black, Uchiha eyes slowly closed again.

In the morning he would see someone about this. Someone who could make a difference… anyone. He didn't care if it was the village Hokage herself.

_Two Hours Ago_

"You will be staying with Haruno, Sakura until I see fit and that's final." The Hokage had said, her voice hard as ice.

Sasuke had glared at her from his chair.

But to no avail. "You're just nineteen as of last month, you're in an unpredictable state of mind, you're extremely powerful, and you need to prove your allegiance still holds to this village. Until I am certain that you are safe, you're-"

"Going to have a personal baby sitter." Sasuke spat out bitterly. "That's ridiculous."

Hokage gave him what was almost a sneer. "Is it?" She asked.

Sasuke glared at her.

"You endangered the village by allying with our enemy, you threw away your loyalties to your friends and your Hokage by leaving Konoha, you almost _killed _a boy before you left, who happened to also be your best friend, and, correct me if I'm wrong, Sasuke," the Hokage said, her eyes hardening. "But isn't that a few traces of your leftover seal on the back of your neck?"

Sasuke's hand moved, just barely off the surface of her desk to cover the skin before he stopped himself, but they both knew that it had happened. The boy grit his teeth and hissed out. "Haruno, Saskura is one of the silliest ninja's in the entirety of Konoha." He ground. "At least put me with someone else!"

"Who would you like to suggest?" Hokage asked, staring him down. "There isn't anyone, ninja, or civilian, in the rest of this town that would even _think_ of accepting you as a responsibility."

He hated being others' responsibilities.

"My only other option is Naruto, but not only is he far too injured to have the strength to act against you-"

"And you think _Sakura_-"

Hokage cut him off. "But I've known that boy for a long time and his emotions always – _always_ – get in the way of his judgment, so Sakura is my _only_ option."

Sasuke scoffed and Hokage glared hard at him.

"My decision is final, Sasuke, and you are not going to – change – my – mind."

If someone could drop dead from a look, the Hokage would have been toast.

"You're dismissed." She said, keeping her face level.

And that was when he'd left the office, and put a fist through her wall. And it still wasn't enough. She wondered vaguely whether or not he was going to go back to Sakura's apartment, but she didn't care.


	3. And miles to go

**A/N**: Um, to 4everDestined, no. Tsunade says that Sasuke had stopped being eighteen last month. Meaning its now sometime in late August. Sakura, however, is still 18, and will be until March 28. Sasuke's birthday is in late July (oooh, I should so _not_ now this much). Lol. Anyway. P sorry if you got confused.

**Disclaimer**: No recognizable material belongs to me.

"Oy, oy. Sakura-chan."

Calloused hands pushed at her, nudging persistently at her shoulders and face until she forced her eyes open, barely awake. "Naruto?" She said, her voice soft and groggy as she squinted away from the light. _What are you doing here?_

"Where's Sasuke?" The blonde haired fox-boy asked.

Smack!

Crash.

Sakura sat bolt up right, eyes suddenly wide, her head cracking painfully into Naruto's, sending the blonde boy sprawling out across the floor before her.

Sakura gasped and covered her mouth, "Naruto!" She yelled, voice muffled by her fingers. "I'm sorry!"

The blonde groaned, rubbing his hand over the sore spot on his head. "Ow, Sakura… you don't have to hit me so hard."

She smirked and let out a little breath that was like a laugh, reaching out a hand to help him up. His muscles were shaky underneath her hands, straining weakly as he tried to sit. Gingerly, she propped him up against the side of the couch.

"You idiot." she breathed, putting her open palm against his head to check for fever, "How did you even get out of the bed by yourself?" She asked in disbelief.

The blonde grinned at her. "Takes more than a few scratches to beat down Uzumaki Naruto!" He said proudly. "Besides, these injuries are nothing!"

She put her hands on her hips and gave him a wry smile. "Yeah, _I_ should know." She said. "_I'm_ the one who looked after you guys' sorry…" she trailed off as her eyes hit the couch and she realized that something really important was gone. Her jaw dropped a little as her eyes scanned the emptiness on the sheets where Sasuke's shape was still imprinted. "Naruto!" She snapped, suddenly angry. "Where's Sasuke!?"

Instinctively, Naruto shielded himself against her hypothetical blows, which never came of course because he was badly injured, but oh, was she tempted. "I don't know!" he whined. "That's what _I _asked _you_!"

"How could you not notice him leaving!" Sakura demanded, already rushing towards her bedroom to get clothes.

Naruto's protesting voice trailed after her from the living room. "You didn't notice either!"

_Forget it_, Sakura though to herself, as she looked at the five-drawer dresser in front of her. _There isn't any time. _Who knew where that dark-haired boy had gotten to by now? In the extra time she'd take to get decently dressed, he could be half-way back to wherever he had been when Naruto had found him. She grabbed her boots out of the closet and shot out of the room like a rocket.

"I'll be back!" Sakura yelled over her shoulder as she grabbed her keys and jammed her feet into her boots one by one, hopping on one foot and then the other, all the way out the door.

"Wait!" Naruto's head desperately craned backwards as he tried to look over the sofa arm at her racing form, "take me with y - !"

The door slammed shut.

She rolled her eyes at Naruto's cut-off request, zipping up her boot and starting to sprint down the hall. Naruto was too injured to move, let alone try to help her find Sasuke. Plus, if their childhood friend and teammate tried to put up a fight when they found him – and if it was anything like the last time the three of them had fought each other… well, at this point, she'd have the better chance of surviving it than Naruto did. He was in a bad state.

So it was just up to her to find out where the Uchiha had gone.

She tried her best to ignore the tight coil of fear that was growing in her stomach. Could she handle him? Was she strong enough? Would she end up… losing control? Naruto didn't know how serious that so-called "condition" of hers was, and she'd promised the Hokage that she wouldn't… and Sasuke. He didn't even know what had happened to her when he was gone. She swallowed hard and tried to put it out of her mind. She had already lost Sasuke once, and she wasn't going to let it happen again. Not without a fight. She didn't care what that entailed.

* * *

Back in Sakura's apartment, Naruto sat on Sakura's wooden floor, staring at the wall, pouting and bored.

His arms were crossed across his bandaged chest as he squinted at the wall, nose wrinkled, chin jutted out stubbornly. Trust Sakura to run off and take on by herself one of the more important things in their lives and just leave him sitting here…. _Only Sakura could be that cruel_… He thought to himself. "Humph." There was only one thing left to do. With a determined thud, he put his hands on the ground and pressed, hard. He groaned painfully as he started to try and stand. Okay, so maybe they weren't "just scratches". Maybe they really, really _hurt_.

He hadn't admitted to Sakura that it had taken him a good fifteen or twenty minutes to simply get out off the bed and crawl his way over to her earlier that morning, but now that no one was around to hear him…

"Owww…" he said slowly as he tried to push himself up. "Ow ow oww, damn it!" he stayed put for a moment, breathing hard, trying to recover from the shots of pain that had tortured him. "Heh." He smiled grimly at the wall in front of him. _If Sakura walked in right now… she would _kill _me_…

As if one cue, the door suddenly swung open and slammed on the wall. Naruto froze in his spot when he heard the stunned silence behind him.

"_What_ are you _doing_!?"

_Damn it_. He sat back down with a thud. How the hell did she _always _seem to be able to _do_ that?

* * *

Sakura's legs burned under the brazen rays of summer sun. She cringed as the grated stone of a wall she got t a bit too close to brushed along her thigh, which was already reddening from the heat. Her skin stung, her hair she had tied up as best she could into a sloppy, pink bun, which was windblown from her speed, and her lungs were starting to burn almost as badly as her legs.

But she was looking for him.

_Sasuke-kun…_ She thought to herself, annoyed and concerned. _Where _are_ you?_ Seamlessly, she jumped from the ground to the roof above her, using chakra without a second thought. Maybe if she had a higher view she would be able to find him. Before it was too late. Skidding to a halt for a moment, she brushed her hair away from her face, thinking. "If I were him…" She thought quietly to herself, staring absent-mindedly. "Where would I go?"

She'd already checked his old house, the Uchiha estate, and found only some dusty memories, and a photograph of old team seven when they were children, taken out of a wooden frame and shredded, dropped into the garbage. The first rip went right through Kakashi's good eye, and her own left cheek, the other through the center of Sasuke's entire face. Only Naruto had been left whole…

She frowned as she continued to think. That was the way it had always been between the four of them back then. Three strong men, and one silly girl, who couldn't even fend for herself. She stared at her hands, as she sat, crouched on the corner of a roof. Naruto always had been the only one out of the three children who Sasuke had shown any semblance of respect for. But what would happen now?

Now that everything had changed so much? Both her, and Naruto, and Konoha? She knew that she had become stronger, more level-headed, less of the sugar-coated, emotion-crazy girl that she had been. She cringed as she remembered the way she used to chase Sasuke around like a fly on sugar water, or fought with Ino over him until she was about ready to claw the other girl's eyes out. And then… there had also been _that_ change. The one that Tsunade had asked her to stay away from.

"_Power is a drug."_ Her mentor's words echoed through her head. "_And this power is no exception. It is dangerous, Sakura. I want you to resist using it, no matter how tempting or desperate your situation may seem. If you don't, or you _can't_, hold back, then I'm afraid-"_

Sakura tried to cut her train of thought off. If she disobeyed Tsunade, she would probably able to find Sasuke. It would be her first time in five months. But… if she did disobey the Hokage... Tsunade's sharp glare flashed into her mind, and Naruto's concerned blue eyes. She felt the bile start to creep up her throat, and swallowed down on it, hard.

"I promised myself I'd only use it as a last resort." Sakura said firmly, closing her eyes before she opened them again. "As a last resort…"

She stood and let her green eyes sweep across the ground below her again, let her senses become prone to anything that might be Sasuke's chakra, but, as usual, there was nothing.

"Sasuke…" She said out loud, shaking her hands a little and then gripping them into fists at her sides as if to scold them, not noticing the way black color had started to swirl around her fingertips. It dissipated after being shaken, before she could even notice it. "Why couldn't you have just stayed put?"

She let her eyes wander off towards the horizon as she felt the entity stirring within her. She tried her best to calm it, to resist. _For once… why couldn't you have just allowed us to stay_?

* * *

"What are you _doing_?"

Slowly, Naruto craned his neck upwards and twisted it to the side over the arm of the couch he was propped again, recognizing the voice…. He practically sighed with relief when the person scolding him was not wearing a long-sleeved PJ shirt, and neither was her hair rose pink, but pale blonde instead. Safe!

"Heh." He laughed nervously as a train of people he knew filed into Sakura's apartment. _She must have forgotten to lock it on her way out…_ Naruto thought, as several pairs of eyes stared at him. "Hi, everybody!"

Silence.

And then, Ino's pale blue eyes hardened to slow, critical orbs of ice. "What happened to _you_?"

The fox-boy gave Sakura's best friend a loose grin. "You'll never guess, Ino-chan."

The blonde girl stared dryly at him. "Oh, yeah?"

"Heh." Naruto's grin grew wider, if that was even possible.

"Naruto you look horrible!" Lee interrupted, his dark eyes impossibly wide and on the brink of shining tears. "What has happened to beat back your youthful flames of vigor!" He clenched his fist in a tragic pose. And Naruto's grin was bordering idiotic now, so he just let it spill. "I brought back Sasuke!"

Very slowly, Ino's folded arms and suspicious stare fell slack.

And the whole room went silent.

* * *

"Hinata-chan! Wait!"

The small, blue-haired girl froze in her place on the road when she heard her name being called. She blinked only once when she turned around to see Sakura descending towards her from the rooftop, her white shirt plastered to her body, hair growing sloppier by the second. She instantly felt nervous. Not because she didn't like Sakura, in fact, she liked her a lot. But, a lot of things had changed recently, and seven months ago, when Naruto had decided to make his and Hinata's "unofficial" relationship "official", the timid, white-eyed shinobi had grown a lot more self-conscious about what Sakura thought about her. They had grown closer, as friends, sure, but she still kept it in mind that Naruto talked to the pink-haired girl about everything. And that meant, _everything. _Sakura was important to Naruto, everyone could see that, so, because Naruto was so important to Hinata, Sakura was now important to her too. So, of course, she was now extremely nervous around her.

The other girl landed kneeling, one hand shooting down to steady her drop. Hinata grew startled when she thought she saw something strange about Sakura's hands… But she decided to ignore it. "Sakura-chan?" She asked, her voice soft as always. "Are you okay?"

"Where's Neji?" Sakura asked, her voice rough as she swallowed.

Hinata's eyes grew more concerned, "I think he's already left, today" the youngest of the Hyuuga clan said, taking a small step forward. "Why?"

Sakura frowned, making Hinata even more concerned. "Do you know when he'll be back?"

The younger girl shook her head. "I didn't ask him."

Sakura stood for a while, battling with herself. Tsunade-sama had implied that she didn't exactly want word of Sasuke's return to be released world-wide yet. She had hoped that she could have found Neji, who'd already known about it, but… there was no one else she could go to now, and Hinata wouldn't tell anyone. Would she?

"Hinata-chan," Sakura said, looking directly at the smaller girl. "I need your help."

* * *

"Tchk." Was the sort of noise that came out of Neji's throat, who had been standing at the back of the troop. It was enough noise that it even surprised Tenten, standing beside him.

"A-are you sure?" Ino stuttered, for once, her sharp voice faltering and failing her. "Sasuke is back?"

"Yup!" Naruto grinned, "Yesterday I – wait." He tilted his head at Ino curiously. "You mean, you haven't heard about it?'

Ino glared at him, "Of course I haven't heard about it!" She leaned down so she was only inches away. "Do you think I'd be _reacting_ like _this _if I'd already _heard about it you dimwit_!" Her voice escalated to a furiously high pitch.

Naruto blinked, obviously caught off guard. "Geez… what kind of rock do you live under?"

Before Ino could explode, Lee shoved her roughly out of the way. "This is absolutely wonderful news!" Lee said, eyes still wide, suddenly he smiled, and lunged at the boy on the floor. "We must rejoice!" He declared, proudly, tears now freely flowing from his eyes. "Tonight! Tonight we must-"

He was interrupted however, by the fifth member of their party.

"What a nuisance…" Shikamaru said absently, looking lazily out the window. "You really can't keep your mouth shut about anything."

"Uh? Hey! What's _that_ supposed to mean!" Naruto demanded.

"It means that Tsunade-sama told us to keep news of the Uchiha's return under _control_." Neji said, monotone as always. "Not inform the entirety of Konoha."

"Wait! You two knew?!" Ino said, rounding in a second on Shikamaru and Neji.

Shikamaru shrugged. Neji remained relatively expressionless.

"And you didn't tell me?" Ino seemed stunned.

"Sakura told us to be discreet." The Hyuuga said.

"_Discreet _does not imply _cult-ishly_ secretive!" Ino retorted.

Neji did not very muchlike this girl's tone. He didn't actually remember the last time someone had directed that kind of attitude toward him, or _anyone _who bore the name of Hyuuga for that matter. Not if they wanted to live afterwards anyway. "We merely separated our mission from our personal lives." The prodigy said coolly when Shikamaru offered no support for himself. If he could read people well, and he could, the lazy but brilliant boy was starting to feel a little guilty. "We did what was expected of us."

"Oh yeah? Well, _she_ didn't seem that surprised." Ino snapped at Neji, indicating towards Tenten.

Neji's opalescent glare hardened to steel in a heartbeat. "Are you trying to suggest something, Yamanaka?" His voice low and dangerous, matching the chill inside his eyes.

"You _know_ what I'm suggesting, Neji." Ino glared.

"Alright, that's enough." Tenten finally spoke up, annoyed, just as the electricity in the room was about to explode. "Naruto," she said, turning away from the petty arguments and finding the blonde, who hadn't really followed what the heck had just happened. "If what you're saying is true then… where's Sasuke now?"

Naruto's jaw tightened a little and his lips formed a thin line. "I… I don't really know."

* * *

"For Sasuke-kun?" Hinata seemed stunned, her pearl colored eyes staring at Sakura.

The other ninja nodded. "I know, it doesn't make any sense, but please, can you try?"

"A-alright." Hinata agreed, reluctantly. "I think I can…"

Sakura smiled, and without a word, the two girls ascended to the rooftops. Sakura waited, patiently, but all the while it felt like every nerve in her body was on fire. She hoped this would work… it _had_ to…

"Byakugan!"

Sakura watched the skin around Hinata's eyes tighten, veins reaching up like hatch-work beneath the frail girl's expression. Moon colored eyes shifted around the streets below them, moving at amazing pace back and forth along the buildings and walls, scanning.

After a while, Sakura saw the younger girl start to strain, a thin sheen of sweat breaking out over her face. As a medic nin, she should have told Hinata to stop. And plus Naruto would kill her if any thing happened to Hinata… Sakura resisted the urge to reach out to the smaller girl. "…Hinata." She said tentatively. '_You can stop now. …He's probably gone already_.' The words were half way out of her mouth when Hinata let out a small breath. It wasn't much, but Sakura could instantly pick up on her surprise.

The veins sunk back into Hinata's skin in the time it took for her to blink, her chakra level falling back to normal.

"Did you see him?" Sakura pressed, and Hinata gave her a small smile.

"Yes."

**A/N**: Hm… should I continue or not? I could have made the chapter longer, but I'm worried that it will make the story hard to read. What do you guys think? … Ok. Ok. Er. I'll be ending it now. Sorrrryyys! (the next chapter should pick up the pace a bit, I promise, i realize that this is really, really slow...).


	4. A Quiet Sound

**A/N**: Ok, so this chapter makes me reeeeally nervous. 'Cause I'm not really sure that I'm writing Sasuke correctly at _all_. I want to still make him human, but obviously he still has to be Sasuke-ish... ahhh so hard. I watche some anime, and actually, if you look, he isn't all that cold all the time. He often is smiling vaguely or saying things that aren't actually sharp. He just has priceless 'i hate you' expressions. ... ahhh.

Ok so let me know if you think i'm writing him incorrectly. he's not going to be all soft and "I LOVE YOU SAKURA!" at the beginning. That would be sad... yeah. i dunno, just gimme some opinions please? i really hate not knowing what to think.

xxox. now read!

**Disclaimer**: No recognizable material belongs to me. . but the plot is miiiine! (grins)

* * *

The door made a quite sound as Sakura slid it open. She waited a second before stepping inside, aware of how it just a little too cold. It should have felt nice on her august burn, soothing, even, but it didn't. The musky entrance hall was dark, and poignantly sharp and empty, just like him. She'd come to the Uchiha mansion earlier in her search, but she hadn't allowed anything to really sink in except for that torn up photograph of Team Seven. Now, she noticed everything. 

"_He's in the garden in the north wing, sitting on the steps." _Hinata had said, only a few minutes ago._ "It looks like he's alone in there..." _

Sakura chastised her incapability to do a thorough search her first time through. He hadn't even been trying to _hide_ from her, for crying out loud, and she'd still missed him. Suddenly, she had to fight the feeling that she was spiraling back down into her genin days, and she was weak in Sasuke's eyes. In everybody's eyes.

_Trust some things to always stay the same…_ She thought to herself. After all this time, Sasuke Uchiha was still the only person who could pull her apart and turn her back into that useless little girl…

Well, she wasn't going to let that happen again. She was going to make sure things were different this time - people needed someone better than that. She needed to be better. And even if she wasn't crushing on him like a freakishly passionate, twelve-year-old stalker she did _care _about Sasuke Uchiha. They'd all fought like hell to get back to him. They'd fought like hell _against _him. And Sakura wasn't putting all that blood and tears to waste.

She was painfully aware of her footsteps as she pulled off her boots and walked down the hall, passing rooms that were huge and empty, and aching for life, restoration, _something_. When she found the paper-screen that had sunlight hitting the other side, she fit her fingers into the notch and slid it open easily, squinting for a moment against the sun.

And there he was. Just like that, sitting on the wooden steps with his hand clasped into that delicately hatched bridge of fingers just beneath his nose, his mouth hidden underneath, the same way he always used to do when they were children. He was only a few feet away. Two steps would take her across the deck right to him. It was strange to have him that close.

"Sasuke," she opened her mouth to call to him, but no sound came out. She stood there for a moment, unable to say anything, before she finally slid the door closed. She walked over and sat beside him on the step.

Her straw-berry colored knees were pressed together tight, ankles braced apart, and she noticed how the small, clean line of the roofing's shadow met light just beyond the tips of their toes. They were only inches away from the light. What surprised her was how easily he seemed to speak up first, lifting his head barely off the edges of his fingers to say something at last.

"Hello. Sakura."

She felt something settle inside her, and her back slouched, shoulders hunched, almost protectively, like she was afraid of Sasuke's brazen words. "Sasuke." She said just as softly.

With the slightest movement of his head, he regarded her with those obsidian eyes. She, with her movements much more obvious and direct, looked back at him. When she met his gaze she was lost all over again.

It was hard, and devoid of warmth, even as they sat together in the august heat, with her burns starting to itch and sting, she got a chill from his eyes. It was all bittersweet for her, crushingly familiar and frightening. A muscle in Sasuke's jaw grew clenched. He was frustrated.

After he'd left Konoha, he had never been able to see past killing Itachi on the horizon of his future. That was where life ended for him, because after that, nothing else would matter. He had told them that once, Naruto and Sakura, when they'd come for him at Orochimaru's with Sai. He had explained it to them, even though, he knew now, that he must have been somewhat under Orochimaru's influence, which now, he suspected, might have consisted of a little more than words… maybe something he hadn't been aware of. And another something, one of his very own, and Itachi's as well. That new knowledge infuriated him. The tightened muscle in his jaw ticked.

Nothing had mattered back then except for killing Itachi, nothing. All there had been was his older brother and sharingan and getting stronger, and his nightmares of that night, and revenge. In his mind, that was still really the only thing that mattered. Revenge. He had trained himself to think that way for years, until it became the pinnacle of his entire life.

So where the hell did that put him now?

What was he supposed to do, now that he had survived the fight and life had moved on? He suddenly didn't seem to have anything planned out, nothing was structured or solid or concrete. His priorities, plans, everything that had once been as hard as stone were completed and gone. And that was what got under his skin more than anything, he thought, unnerved him.

And as for Sakura and Naruto…

"Sasuke?"

He blinked, ripped away from his thoughts.

They got under his skin too.

"I think we should get you out of those clothes…" She said.

… He stared at her, and then his eyes alone moved to the hem of his sleeve. The white material was still soaked with blood and rust-colored. All of it was his, and Naruto's and Orochimaru's… and Itachi's.

* * *

He still dressed just as Orochimaru had, like when she, Sai, and Naruto had confronted Sasuke for the first time all those years ago. He still wore the loose white shirt that plunged down to the hem of his pants and revealed the top half of his chest, the thick rope corded around twice his waste, black pants, bare feet. Everything was the same, and yet she had no idea how much of the man inside the clothes was different than what he had been before. 

"Alright." Sakura said with a friendly sigh and smile, standing up at last. "It's time we get going. I've been looking for you all morning, and Naruto's pre-e-e-tty worried, you know."

Sasuke looked at her, just a hint of expression on his face.

_All morning?_ She imagined him thinking in his mind. She blushed. "I came by the house first, actually, but I didn't think to check the garden…"

He gazed at her still, and then, listlessly, he stood. "Hn."

She smiled at him, sweetly, and he half expected her to do something dumb like offer him her hand. "C'mon," but she didn't. "We'll go home." She took a step towards the door and then froze.

Sasuke's expression was still blank when she whipped around and stared hard at one of the trees growing in the garden. That was all there was when she looked at her surroundings: an empty pond with no fish or fountains and a few tall trees here and there. The flowers were all gone, and the grass was as dry as skin. Still, she could have sworn that for an instant she'd felt…

"Did you-" She turned to look at Sasuke before she fell silent again. He regarded her stoically, and she let her sea green gaze flit back to the tree before shaking her head. "Never mind…"

With that she opened the door and disappeared into the too-cool house again, the shadows swallowing her whole. Once she was gone, Sasuke tilted his head towards the garden. He _had_ felt it. Kakashi's chakra… even if he had only picked up on it for a second, after Sakura had turned around and seemed startled. When he caught sight of the flash of silver, he knew it was only because his former sensei had allowed it.

So he'd received a welcome greeting from everybody then.

Uchiha felt the corner of his mouth twitch upwards for only a moment before Sakura's call rang through his empty house.

"Sasuke? Are you coming?"

Hn. What a stupid question…

* * *

From the rooftop where Kakashi had crouched in shadow, the Anbu officer felt himself start to return the smile. And yet, when it faded, the emotion behind his eyes was not contentment. 

So Sasuke was finally back. And, from what he could tell, the young man's nature was relatively unchanged. He was sure that there was a great deal of damage done beneath the surface of that stoic face, but at least nothing in his nature had been altered. Much.

Except… he had watched Sasuke re-enter his house in the early morning. He had seen the way the just-nineteen year old had stared at the Team Seven photo he had turned face-down five years ago. The action had been hesitant back then, Kakashi remembered, for the 13 year old boy, and it seemed less of an action of spite than of more a silent goodbye. Only during his recent return this morning had Sasuke taken the photo out of the frame and ripped it up, throwing it into the trash.

So Sasuke did still care about Naruto and Sakura then, even if it was just in his core. Kakashi knew what had transpired between the three of them a few years ago. Sasuke had told them that he had severed their bonds of friendship and importance forever in order to progress. But, Kakashi thought, if he didn't care at all, why would he be moved enough to tear them in half?

Kakashi smiled softly. _No_, he thought to himself, _Sasuke's personality hasn't changed. _How much trauma he had gone through though, was still in question.

And then there was Sakura.

He shifted his stance slightly, the only sign of his discomfort. She should not have been able to pick up on his chakra like that, especially when he had been making a _point_ of hiding it from her.

He knew that he hadn't slipped. She'd picked up on it on her own. Not that she wasn't a capable ninja. She could trace chakra as well as anyone else when she tried. What startled Kakashi was that she _hadn't_ _been_ trying. And, not that he didn't love his little shinobi, but, he knew that sensing masked chakra without exerting any effort was way beyond her relaxed state's capabilities. After all, she'd missed Sasuke her first time through his mansion, and she'd been _looking_ for him…

Something was wrong, he thought darkly as he watched his former students depart together towards the cherry blossom's apartment. And he found himself sincerely hoping, that it wasn't what he thought it was.

* * *

"…So, things are a little different around here, ne, Sasuke?" Sakura asked brightly as the two of them walked, she trying to save them from death by awkward silence. "Naruto and Hinata are together, you know. He _finally_ noticed her. And Tsunade-sama recently started a new project for reconstructing relationships with the Sand, but, we don't exactly know how that's going yet. Uh, Naruto's friend is taking the chuunin exam too! You remember right? The Third's grandson?" She looked upwards to the sky for a moment, trying to think of what else she should be filling him in on, but now she couldn't seem to think of anything that would be deemed "important" by the dark haired boy walking beside her, his arm around her shoulders as she supported him. 

"_You shouldn't be walking with those injuries_," she had said as they'd stepped out of the Uchiha mansion.

"_I can handle it_." _Was his curt reply. _

_Sakura put her hands on her hips, tilted her head. "I _am_ a medic-nin, now, you know." _

_"You're point?" _

"_Give me your arm." _

_"No."_

"_Please?" She thought hard. "If you don't give me your arm, Sasuke, I'll break the other." _

_He stopped and looked at her, and his expression clearly showed tha the was wondering if Sakura had _actually_ just said that to him. She decided to take advantage of his moment of stunned silence to grab his arm and sling it over her shoulder for him. He glowered at her, and she smiled. N__o gushing, no squealing, no blushing. Just as simple as that. _

_Geez…_ Sakura thought now, casting him a sideways glance. _Was he always this stubbornly tight-lipped_?

It was kind of strange, Sakura thought, that he had agreed to come with her without putting any kind of fight. But she sure as hell wasn't about jinx it now. One word out of her mouth about it would probably have him glaring at her with eyes of icy death-rays and scampering away to lurk in his mansion some more.

She let out a small sideways smile. _Figures_…

"And you?"

She was startled by the sound of his voice, turned her head to looked at him. "Huh?"

He looked directly at her and let a small, almost cruel smirk twist in the corner of his mouth, his eyes hardening. She got the distinct impression that he was ridiculing her, silently. "What's so different about you?" The Uchiha asked.

They stopped together, and Sakura stared at him, her insides racing with all the different answers she could give him. She could just smack him, for being like this, but she figured that would probably be one of the more irresponsible things a medic-nin could do for one of her patients. _Although that would be giving him a good piece of your mind _and _answering his question at the same time. _Something inside her said. But she didn't, she just stood there, silent. She hadn't really expected anything different from him.

He made a small exhale of air that she felt on her skin, as if he were throwing away something useless, and started to take another step. She turned her head and looked straight forward as they walked together, bodies just barely apart in the august heat. "About just as much as is different about you." She said.

Beside her, Sasuke froze, and she stopped with him for a moment. _That got him. _She allowed herself a smile. "C'mon." She said, directing the smile at him as their sides brushed, her starting to take a step forward. She ignored it and started towards home again, as if none of it had happened, and seconds later, Sasuke started moving again too.

* * *

When she got to the top of the stairs she could already hear the shouts and screams. "Oh, Naruto!" She said, exasperated. "That idiot can't keep a secret for his _life_!" 

Sasuke's eyes narrowed as they approached the steadily noisier room. Was that… screaming?

Sakura sighed as she reached out for the door handle. "I guess it's just Naruto being Naruto as usual."

Sasuke hand shot out and deftly caught her wrist, making her blink. "Don't be stupid." He said.

Sakura let out a weird smile. "It's my house." Sasuke had never been _this_ tense…

Sasuke just stared at her, his expression telling her quite frankly that he thought marching into what sounded like a full-blown riot on the other side of the door was not the brightest thought she'd ever had.

She smiled. "You get used to it. C'mon." She wrapped the fingers of her caught hand around his and tugged, worried that it would be the only way to get him inside. Sure enough, the Uchiha opened his mouth to protest, his face turning sour, but before he could do a thing she'd opened the door.

"…"

"They're holding _hands_!" Was the first thing Ino managed to shriek.

As if on cue, every set of eyes snapped down to Sakura and Sasuke's interlocking hands and stared at them until the image had been lasered into their brains.

The hands were dropped like hot rocks, and Sakura closed the door.

"_What_!" Naruto's, who couldn't see anything, bellowed from other side of the couch, some soft gold spikes moving desperately in view over the arm of the couch as he tried to look over the edge without hurting himself.

"Very funny, Ino." She said with her hands on her hips. "What are you all doing in _my_ apartment?"

"Coming to _see_ you, thank you very much." Ino said, tone full of attitude. "Besides, we had plansthis morning, Sakura! Remember? Shopping with me, huh?"

"Oh, Ino… something came up." Sakura said.

"Yeah, I can see that _now_ thanks!"

"What about you guys?"

Shikamaru shrugged. "Hyuuga and I came to check on you out of principality… she's with him," he droned, waving a hand towards Tenten, "and Lee…" He frowned, tilting his head all of a sudden. "Why the hell _are_ you here?"

"To support my team of course!" The young man proudly proclaimed. "When I spotted Neji and Tenten walking through the market together and heard that they were coming to visit _Sakura-chan_," the room collectively cringed to the way he oozed out her name, shooting her an oh-so-discreet grin. "I thought I'd join along!"

"…Right."

Behind her, there was a quiet thud. Everyone turned to see Sasuke leaning against the wall, his expression vaguely annoyed.

Ino suddenly stopped. In seconds she was on the other side of the room, looking at him very closely, her temper suddenly gone, pale blue eyes inquisitive. She leaned up into his face, bending down so that she could look up beneath the semi-mask of raven tresses in his face. Sasuke maintained steady eye-contact, arms folded across his chest, glowering at her. And finally, Ino smiled at him. "You're still _cute_!"

Everybody, including Sasuke, sweat dropped and stared. "…. _You're_ still _insane_." He replied.

And Sakura smiled.

* * *

_Hours Later..._

"Oy."

Sasuke opened up his eyes and gave them a moment to adjust to the dark. Sakura's ceiling hung over him.

"I know you're not asleep, bastard."

Sasuke let an expression of distain slip over his features. "Who said I was asleep?" He asked, dryly. "I just didn't want to respond because it was you."

"Heh." Naruto let out a short laugh. "You really haven't changed much, have you Sasuke-teme?"

Sasuke shifted his head a little and looked down at the foot of the bed, expressionless. "I've changed…" he said. "We're all different."

"Yeah, but, not anywhere it counts, right?" Naruto asked, hesitant.

There was a long silence from the other side of the bed, and Naruto waited, anxious for an answer. Finally, he received it. "What the hell are you talking about?" The dark-haired man said, rolling over, making the sheets shift over towards him.

Naruto smiled as he stared up at the ceiling. _That right there._ He thought to himself, pleased."Don't steal my sheets, bastard." Naruto complained, yanking them a little and rolling over on his side as well. _We're still friends. _

"Shut up." Sasuke snapped.

_I'm glad… _

From the bedroom where Sakura was supposed to be sleeping, the rose-haired girl smiled. She'd left her door open so that she could hear one of them calling for her in the night, not knowing that it would allow her to listen into their conversation.

She shifted in her blue and white sheets looked at the clock at her nightstand. 1:30 a.m.. She wrinkled her nose in distaste and firmly shut her eyes. She had to get to sleep. Otherwise she'd never be alive for Tsunade-sama tomorrow…

* * *

**A/N**: Alright, so like i said, i really really need input on this. I have no idea what i'm doing. Especially on Sasuke is he too soft? Is he just weird? Should I make him meaner?? (gets dizzy). Hellp).

Also! Coming up next we've got my working on some other couples, an appeal for the re-formation of team 7, and Sasuke having required training/rehab/re-evaluation with Kakashi and, hopefully, some SasuSaku moments. . Lotsa fun!


	5. 3 Ninjas and Superstrength

**A/N**: Okay. So, a lot of you may not know this, and I just thought I ought to make it clear. YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ THIS STORY UNLESS YOU DON'T MIND "spoilers", which basically means, if you don't read manga/translated manga. So anyway SPOILER ALERT for you anime fans!: Under Sakura's training with Tsunade, she becomes an extremely proficient medic nin, and also, due to her amazing chakra control, develops freakish super-girl strength. Kakashi and Chiyo in fact, both say that she may have the potential to surpass Tsunade… (stunned silence). Yeah. I know. I was kind of freaked as well. Oooh well. If you want to know more about Sakura's new personality/abilities you can just Google "Haruno Sakura – Wikkapedia" and they should give you an all around summary of how the girl's doing. :) hope that helps save you few from confusion!

* * *

"Wha-a-a-a-t!?" Lee stood, pushing his hands down onto Tsunade's desk. "But _Hokage-sama_!" 

"You're not going on that mission, Rock Lee. You're still too injured from your last!"

"My arm is fine!" Lee protested, holding out his tightly bandaged forearm and shoving it under Tsunade's nose, as if to ask her to examine it herself. "And besides, Gai-sensei and I agree that my flames of youthful vigor are _sure_ to-"

Flick.

Lee made a strangled noise of pain and immediately bit down on his bottom lip to hold it in, the blood rushing out of his face. Tsunade stared at him through ever amused, I-told-you-so eyes. "I just flicked your arm, Lee." She said with a touch of a too-sweet smile. "In pain yet?"

"…You are too cruel, Hokage-sama." Lee ground out, stiffly bringing his arm back to his side, ignoring as best he could the throbbing.

"Just wait one more week or so Lee," Tsuande said, sitting back into her chair and brushing some blonde hair over her shoulder. "You've always been a quick healer." She smiled at him. "And I've got faith in you."

Lee's face brightened considerably as he finally gave in. "Thank you, Tsunade-sama! Thank you!" He struck his nice-guy pose, making the Hokage smile. "I'll run laps to work on my leg strength and speed until my arm heals!" The young man turned around and ran for the door "Again, thank you, Tsunade-sama!" The door opened unexpectedly however, just as he reached for the handle. The people on the other side of the door never had a chance.

"Lee!"

"_Gut_!?"

All four of party members collided and crashed unceremoniously to the floor in a giant heap of bandages and tangled limbs.

"Lee!"

"Sakura-chan!"

"Furry brow-w-ws!" Naruto snarled.

"Naruto?"

"…Get off me."

"Sasuke-kun!?"

"Oh," Tsunade dropped her head into her hands and took a deep breath, shaking her head. It was just going to be one of those mornings.

* * *

A few hours ago…

"_Kyaa_!" One look at the clock had Sakura out of bed like a shot, throwing her legs over the edge of the mattress, and simultaneously ripping the sheets off of her form so fast that they practically flew off the other side of the bed. "_I'm so late_!" She said to herself as she ran into the bathroom, throwing on a full-length robe over her shoulders and clipping her hair up hastily as she turned on the faucet for the sink, not even bothering to tie it up. _It was a good thing my search for Sasuke made me shower last night_… she thought to herself as she splashed cold water on her face, scrubbed it, and then toweled it dry with a cloth. When she was done drying her face, she was already in the kitchen, sticking a piece of bread into the toaster before she tore back into the makeshift hallway that separated the living room from the kitchen and lead her bedroom. As she shot past the paper divider that served as the living room wall, she skidded to a jerky stop, catching sight of something out of the corner of her eye. She backed up and poked her head in, her pink hair still a mess from being clipped up so hastily.

From their places on the pull out couch, Naruto and Sasuke were both staring at her…

"Err – Sakura... are you okay" Naruto asked.

"Ah! I forgot I have to make breakfast for you guys too!" She squealed, and dashed back into the kitchen, her socks skidding on the wooden floors as the boys watched her disappear again, robe flying out behind her.

"… She's scary in the morning." Naruto commented as they heard something crash in the kitchen followed by a noise of despair from the pink-haired girl.

"Hn." Sasuke agreed.

* * *

"Oy, Sakura." Naruto said as she helped the two boys up the stairs to Tsunade's office, their arms over her shoulders as she supported their weight. "You said to remind you last night after you healed up our wounds to check us again this morning."

"…And you chose to remind her _now_?"

"Eh?! Shut up, Sasuke!"

"Hey! Wait till we've finished climbing these stairs at least!" Sakura said, keeping the two of them apart. Just a few more steps and they'd be right at Tsunade-sama's door. "Okay," Sakura said, removing her arm from around Sasuke's waist and twisting the handle. "Made it!"

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama!" Lee was saying as she opened the door. He was headed full tilt right for them.

"Lee!" Sakura barely had time to choke out.

Lee looked whipped his head around last second. His eyes widened. "_Gah_!?"

On her left shoulder, Sasuke stiffened just before – _crash_.

They ended up in a heap on the floor, all of them groaning while their injured bodies screamed at them. Lee had his arm, Naruto and Sasuke their entire bodies, and somehow, she'd winded up at the bottom to be crushed by them all. Lee had crashed into her right side and she'd instinctively twisted herself downwards and to the left to avoid, putting her flat-backed on the floor. Sasuke had collapsed with the sudden absence of her support and Lee had crashed right into Naruto, who had also tried to dodge, but his efforts only ended up putting him at the top of the heap, his head connecting painfully with the floor, hips slung up over Lee's tangled figure. That put her at the bottom, Naruto at the top, Lee underneath Naruto and Sasuke right on top of… Oh.

The dark haired boy exhaled in pain when he hit the ground – or rather, her chest - his broken ribs jarring inside his body, his other injuries being crushed ruthlessly by Lee and Naruto's weight. Sakura gasped as the four of them crashed down on top her and inhaled Sasuke's breath, which had fallen over her face and neckline. It was warm, and tasted sort of like… hot, pleasant, metal. She blinked, stunned, and there was the sudden realization that their faces were only inches apart, his waist grinded into hers, their legs entangled awkwardly. She could feel every inch of him. When he got his bearings and seemed to realize where he was, he looked at her in total surprise, apparently just as startled.

They froze.

And his dark eyes leveled her.

She could feel his barely-there traces of breath on her face… and her heart fluttered for a moment before she immediately stomped on it mercilessly. _Don't be stupid, Sakura._ She thought to herself, his dark hair tickling her own skin. His hard, toned body was still weighing down on hers, pressing her into the floor. His eyes gazed _right_ through her and she felt like she was being stripped away from herself…_** Don't** be stupid! _Why wasn't he moving away again?

"Fuzzy brow-w-ws!" Naruto growled as he painstakingly pushed himself off the dog-pile.

_Oh, right. _Sakura thought to herself. _He's got two other boys piled on top of him. _

"Naruto?" Lee asked.

"Get off me." Sasuke drawled to Lee who was still sitting obliviously on top of him.

"Sasuke-kun!?" Lee immediately sprang off the pile and helped Naruto up, making sure to only use his left arm. Sasuke then rolled slowly off of Sakura and pushed himself up, his breathing a little strained.

"Sorry!" Lee said, offering his hand to a breathless Sakura. Sasuke's eyes flit in their direction. Cringing a little, Sakura took Lee's outstretched hand and let him pull her up to her feet in one fluid motion, effortlessly. She straightened her skirt and turned to face Tsunade who was looking at them with a very dry expression.

"Sorry," She said, tucking back her hair. "I'm a little late."

* * *

"So, it's settled then." Tsunade said, while scrawling her pen over more paper-work. "Uchiha Sasuke will stay with Haruno Sakura and continue under her supervision until the time sees fit. Once he's recovered enough from his injuries, Sasuke will then commence assessment training with Hatake Kakashi until Anbu and myself are satisfied."

Sakura shifted nervously in her seat and cast the boy beside her an apprehensive glance. He did not seem happy.

"Is that understood?"

"Yes, Hokage-sama."

"What about me?" Naruto demanded bluntly from Sakura's right.

Hokage looked at him for a moment, puzzled. "What _about_ you?"

"Am I allowed to be involved in Sasuke's training?" Naruto asked.

The Hokage blinked. Clearly, she hadn't even considered that. "I suppose." Tsunade said, looking between the two of them. "If Kakashi and Sasuke agree to it."

From his chair, Sasuke smirked at his best friend. Naruto caught sight of it and grinned.

"Sakura." Tsunade said, drawing her attention away from her friends. "I'm assuming you don't have any problems with this arrangement. Am I correct?"

She'd meant to answer "correct" right away, without any hesitation. She really had. But she ended up hesitating anyway. The room suddenly grew tense. Her eyes shifted to Sasuke, who she found to be staring at her. She felt something akin to nervousness stir inside of her. Her and Sasuke? Staying in that tiny little apartment together? Alone? It would probably be a little awkward, and… _weird_, but: "Its fine with me, Tsunade-sama." She said finally, breaking eye-contact with Sasuke at last. This was the only way to keep him in Konoha.

It wasn't like anything was going to happen. She'd done her best to move away from her unhealthy Sasuke-crush, and he'd made it more than _clear_ that he'd probably rather hook up with a bug than be anything other than friends with her. Besides, how could she in that kind of love with somebody who had already hurt her and Naruto so much?

"Right." Tsunade said, putting the papers she had just written up into a file on her desk and closing the drawer with a thud. "We're done then." She said. "You all are free to go."

"Eh?" Sakura scooted forward in her chair yet again. "But, Tsunade-sama, what about my training?"

The blonde woman looked at Sakura, half-standing from her chair, a pile of folders already in hand. "Oh? Did I forget to tell you about my meeting today?"

"Meeting?" Sakura asked.

"With representatives from the Sand." The Hokage said, looking at her. "I didn't tell you?"

Sakura shook her head.

"Oh, well, I have to go meet with someone else right now and then the rest of my day will be taken up with the meeting…" The Hokage drifted off when she saw the disappointment on Sakura's face. "You know you _should_ already have your hands full looking after Sasuke." She said. "But, I suppose if you want something to practice in your free time," she moved to the bookshelf, traced over the cracked spines with the tip of her finger and then selected one, plucking it out of the stack. "Look through this, if you get the chance, and I'll drill you on them next time we meet."

"Thank you, Tsunade-sama!" Sakura said, taking the book and then standing for when her sensei left.

* * *

After the door shut, Tsunade exhaled. "You know," she said to the empty hall. "This really can't be long. I'm already running late."

"It won't be." A voice said, and soon silver spikes had emerged from the shadows that an ordinary person wouldn't have even noticed.

"Walk with me then," Tsunade said, and the two set down the hall. "What's this all about, Kakashi?"

"Mmm," The other ninja said, looking out the windows that they passed with a lazy, half-lidded eye. "I wanted to bring up a proposition to you."

Tsunade let her gaze drift over to the other man. "A proposition?"

"Yes." He hesitated before languidly turning his head to face her. "What would you say to a reformation of Team Seven?"

Tsunade grew silent.

"It would only happen, of course, if the assessment of Sasuke went over well. You know that I would be the last person to cut him any slack…"

At that Tsunade let out a small laugh, sounding more like ridicule than anything else. They'd reached a large set of double-doors and Tsunade stopped. "I'll put it into consideration." She said, reaching for the door.

Kakashi smiled. "Of course."

By the time she'd opened the door to find the members of the Sand waiting for her, Kakashi was already gone.

* * *

"Alright. Let me off."

"Off?" Sakura asked as Naruto started to shift his weight away from her. "Hey, where are you going?" She called as he started to walk down the street.

He raised a hand without turning around. She recognized the lazy goodbye. "I told Hinata-chan that I would meet her at the Ichiraku today, and I'm not standing her up."

"_Hinata-chan_!" Sakura exclaimed, "Naruto you have _injuries_! You shouldn't be-"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah!" Naruto turned around and grinned. "Stop being so _jealous_, Sakura-chan!"

"_Jealous_!?" Sakura yelped before she grew angry. "Get _back _here Uzumaki Naruto! I'm swear I'm gonna-"

"Ja Sakura!" Naruto called over his shoulder. "Sasuke!" He added as an afterthought. "I'll drop by tomorrow!"

"Don't bother!" Sakura called after him. "_I'm_ not treating any of your dumb injuries!" Naruto grinned, and she somehow ended up smiling. "Idiot," She said fondly before realizing that Sasuke was still beside her. He had insisted on walking without any help once they'd gotten down the stairs. "Let's get you home." She said, "How's your leg by the way?"

"It's fine." Sasuke said, emotionless.

"Ribs?"

"Great."

"Broken wrist and a stab wounds?"

"They tickle." He replied, his voice sharp.

She didn't let it get to her. "…Tired?"

"Not really."

She let her brows furrow at his slightly-off tone. "Are you okay?" Sakura asked.

He looked at her with a slightly surprised expression, and she suddenly felt inexplicably naked in front of him. She gave it some thought. If they did go home… what would there be to do? _Nothing_. She answered herself._ Just a whole bunch of nothing…_ "Hey," She brightened. "I've got an idea. Why don't we go get something to eat?"

Sasuke looked at her.

"Not ramen or anything like that," she said, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "Something that'll actually be _good_ for you." The more she thought about it, the happier she was with the idea. "C'mon!" She said, grabbing his arm, careful to avoid his broken wrist. "We'll go to this new place that came out while you were away, they have frozen yogurts and fruit and a bunch of other stuff that you'll like."

Beside her, Sasuke was silent but followed without complaint. His arm was very strong and powerful in her hands. She resisted the urge, for a moment, to lean her cheek on his shoulder. Where had _that_ come from? She brushed it off. It was probably just because he was back. It was something she had fought so hard for.

"Sakura."

She stopped and looked at him, but he didn't say anything. "Yes?" She dropped his arm, figuring that he would probably be more comfortable if she _wasn't_ leading him around like an incompetent 2 year old.

Sasuke opened his mouth to say something but no words came out. She looked at him expectantly. "Never mind." He said and started walking towards the direction she had been leading him in before.

She looked after him, confused, until she scurried after him again.

* * *

"So, chicken or lamb?"

"What?"

"Which do you prefer?" Sakura asked, sucking down the last of her coconut mango frozen yogurt shake.

He gave her a puzzled look.

"Dinner." She answered, looking at the dimming sky with vague thoughts passing under her emerald eyes. "I can try to make either… I _think_." She smiled at him. "I don't really cook that often."

Her eyes crinkled when she smiled… "It doesn't matter." He said. And wondered why he'd never noticed before.

"You can't just say that." Sakura protested, releasing her pink loopy straw from her mouth. "It's your food too!"

Sasuke shrugged, his raspberry-cherry frozen yogurt shake long since drained and thrown away. It was almost dark, with the sun having just passed the peak of setting and moving into dusk. Sakura had ended up spending the entire day showing him around all the things that had changed when he was away. She'd even gone as far as to take him back into the academy again to check out the new classrooms. It had been fun and nostalgic for her, but to Sasuke it was like he was being hurled rather forcefully backwards into another world, and another life that he thought had been destroyed forever ago. It was strange how much an empty classroom had affected him, making him aware of how completely he'd tried to leave everything behind.

They'd taken frequent breaks for his wounds, of course, and made a point of sneaking quietly past the tiny figures of Naruto and Hinata who had been seen sitting together on the wharf at sunset, the blonde-haired boy's arm slung over his girlfriend's shoulder while the water grew orange, like it had been set on fire.

"I don't know whether or not I can-"

She felt them coming only a second before she heard Tenten's voice call out a warning. "Sakura, heads!"

Thoughtlessly, she dropped to the ground, palms flat, shake dropped, one leg extended outwards while she kneeled on her other. Sasuke, who had been aware of them before even she, had easily stepped out of the way.

She shifted her weight onto her hands and sprang to her feet again, pushing her hair out of her eyes in time to see the huge darkened form of a man skidding to a stop, a kunai in his hand, the color of hard steel turning sharper as the sky around them fell to deeper shades of blue.

Two seconds later had Tenten down off the rooftop beside her. The weapons expert dropped down, graceful as usual and immediately the atmosphere around them all had changed.

"There were two others ahead of him." Tenten said, and Sakura noticed that she was dressed in a dark red chipao (that's a traditional Chinese style dress by the way), sleeveless, and slit up to her thigh. Definitely _not_ a combat dress.

"Ambush?"

"Sort of."

A slight rustle above her head had Tenten's eyes in the trees. "He's up there." She said quietly, her gold eyes hardening as she squatted down. "I've got him. You taking down the brawn?"

"Sure."

Tenten glanced at the Uchiha, whose dark intensity had increased tenfold as his slouching figure radiated battle aura into the night, hard lines of shadows on his face. Tenten almost flinched away from him. "Sasuke, are you going to handle the other-"

Suddenly from behind them, three kunai came flying out of shadows and embedded themselves in the ground. The Konoha ninja jumped out of the way effortlessly.

"Just go!" Tenten shouted, as she jumped into the trees, pulling a scroll from a strap around her thigh beneath her dress.

Sakura braced herself for the huge man who was now racing towards her and blocked his punch. She cringed a little under impact, arm throbbing. This man was all brawn.

_Well that's just fine._ Sakura thought to herself. _I can do that – too! _"Ugh!" She gathered chakra into her right fist, summoning her strength and slammed directly into the guy's face. Hard. He screamed loudly when his nose and mouth caved in, blood gushing out of the orifices in his face. He screamed loudly enough for Sasuke to barely cast them a look out of the corner of his eye before he fell back in step with his own opponent – who had come out of the shadows. Sakura saw them and immediately protested, yelling at him for the first time in years. "Don't be a dumbass, Sasuke! You're _injured_ get out of the-"

"_Bitch_!"

_Crack. _She was vaguely aware enough to be surprised when the man, whose face she had just punched in, smashed her body into wall of the empty warehouse behind her, like she was a twig. She choked as the air was smashed out of her lungs.

When she finally took a gasping breath, the man was still forcing her into the wall, trying to stop her breath. She smiled at him with sharp green eyes that glittered in starlight. "Okay…" She said, her voice low and rough and dangerous, pink hair hung over her expression. "_That_ –" she started, lifting her feet to slam into his chest. "_hurt_!"

Her kick sent him flying, his entire body airborne despite his bulk. The kunai in his hand that she hadn't noticed sliced a long clean gash along her shoulder. Thoughtlessly, she wrapped a hand around the nearest lamppost and summoned her charka once more.

For Sasuke, the fight was so easy that it almost felt like a joke. Or at least it would have if he hadn't been recovering from a fractured leg, broken wrist, several shattered ribs and five stab wounds. Now it was just annoying.

His attacker was long and lean, but still caked in muscle. The ideal build. Too bad Sasuke was above ideal. The Uchiha easily averted his body from his attacker's punches and knives, moving from here to there in an almost lazy manner, smiling at the other man.

It seemed to infuriate his opponent. "Why you little shit!" The masked ninja spat out angrily, and pulled out a sword. "Hold still!"

_Rash. _Sasuke smirked coldly, and let his critically calculating, onyx eyes turn crimson, deadly wheels in falling into motion as the attacker came at him. The other ninja only had a moment to let the shocked realization flit across his face before Sasuke moved his body to the right and used his left, uninjured, arm to slightly pull on the hilt of his own blade. Effortlessly, he fended off the other man's attack and saw the opening. He drew his own sword, and punctured it through the other man's neck, then ripped it through. Blood splattered onto the pavement and the edges of Sasuke's sleeve, hot and red, the way it always was. The dying ninja barely had the chance to make a sound before his body hit with a heavy thud. He slid a bit on the dirt and then came to a halt, eyes still open.

Sasuke regarded the fallen man with a face of ice and flicked the loose blood off his blade before sheathing it again.

He turned around and moved his head to banish the bangs that had fallen into his face during battle. He'd turned around just in time to see Sakura rip a lamppost out of cement with one hand.

"_Yahh_!" She then swung it around her body like it was a baseball bat, rose colored hair and skirt flying around her body till she raised the massive rod of steel above her head and slammed it down. She'd hit the airborne body of the giant she'd been fighting, slamming him mercilessly into the cement, probably shattering him completely, wielding the piece of metal like it was damp spaghetti. The glass of lamppost shattered, and at the same time it barred the man's broken shape into the ground, making sure he wouldn't be getting away, or even getting up for a very long time. A thin trail of blood spilled over from his lips and Sakura stood over him in dim shadows, her breathing slightly labored as she stood and wiped at her cheek. "Jerk." She spat and Sasuke felt a little bit of amusement before heavy drop of a body beside him pulled his attention.

Tenten descended from the trees beside it only a moment later, looking as if she had never been in a fight at all - her appearance was flawless.

"Sasuke." Tenten greeted.

He nodded his acknowledgement.

And then Sakura came, stepping carefully over the heap of a man she'd left in her wake. "You guys okay?" She asked once she was near them, still a little breathless.

"Yeah." Tenten answered. "Fine."

"Where's Neji?" Sakura asked.

Tenten blinked. "How did you know I was meeting-?"

As if on cue, the genius arrived. The first thing he did was assess the situation, his eyes almost phosphorescent in the moon and starlight. He wore his hair loose these days, stray strands of ebony falling into his eyes. Sakura watched as the veins around his temples receded and he seemed to relax.

"The dress." Sakura answered with a bit of a smile and Tenten gave her a look.

"No injuries." Neji practically stated when he grew closer to the group.

"None." Sakura answered and Neji looked at Tenten, then at Sasuke. "All of his are old." Sakura smiled and Neji seemed satisfied.

"Neji was taking care of the other eight." Tenten said.

"_Eight_?" Sakura blinked.

"They were headed towards Konoha." Neji answered. "When we tried to confront them they grew… hostile."

Sakura stared at the three men and then at Tenten. "Why were they here?"

The other girl shook her head. She didn't know.

"I'll go report it." Neji said and he started to leave.

"Wait." Tenten started after him and the prodigy stopped. "What about…" She trailed off, looking at him with a touch of disappointment in her amber eyes.

For a moment, Neji's opal gaze was gentled slightly. But it was only for a fraction of a second. "Come with me, then." He said, and disappeared.

Tenten hesitated and looked at Sakura, who smiled encouragingly. "We're fine here, Tenten. You go on."

She and Sasuke waited until the Anbu officers took the men away, and then headed off for home. Sakura wondered, vaguely, why it felt like her head was spinning a little. She shook it off as she and Sasuke walked back to her apartment. She was just having a really weird day.

* * *

**A/N**: Once again, I could have made this chapter longer, extending it to the shower scene that comes up next (this fic is not lime by the way, or lemon. And when i say "shower scene" there's ntothing romantic or dirty implied. i really just mean a scene in which the shower is involved. in fact, it will probably be the exact OPPOSITE of romantic). 

For Neji and Tenten, are they dating? Hmm, well, their situation will be explained in the next chapter. But they are a featured pair in thei fic.

Sigh... alright. Let me know if you guys want longer chapters. Because i can probalby supply them. Really.

Thank you for reading!


	6. Flash of Red

**A/N**: Thank you all for your support! Always open for reviews. Let me know what you think!

**Disclaimer**: Naruto and characters do not belong to me.

* * *

"Well," Tenten said, sitting down next to Neji on the fountain's rim. "That was fun." She said, tucking back a piece of her loosened hair as she lowered herself, folding her hands in her lap - looking at him.

He was not looking back at her.

"Neji." She called softly, putting her hand on his shoulder.

His opal eyes cut a path to her for a moment, and then moved back up to the ocean of stars above them. "What were those guys doing in Konoha anyway." He said.

Tenten felt herself grow heavy. "I don't know." She said, her hand slipping off his shoulder. "Don't worry about it. We took care of them." She stood. "Want to get something to eat? We could still have time if we rush."

Neji shook his head. "They weren't even wearing head-plates - they were definitely _trying _to conceal their identities."

"Yeah…" Tenten said, "Definitely. But Tsunade-sama will have it figured out by tomorrow." She held out her hand. "C'mon let's go."

Neji looked at her as if he had only just noticed that she was there. "Where?"

"Anywhere." She answered, thinking about how all of the make up, and perfume, her hair and the dress had gone to waste in one night. "I'm hungry."

Neji nodded, still distracted, and stood up, his fingers laced loosely in hers. But she could tell that he just wasn't… focused. She sighed; he would come around again, gradually. At least she hoped he would. It was an empty street. No one was there to see them, with their hands linked together so intimately. Besides, most of the villagers who were their friends knew already. Or at least they suspected. As long as nobody told Hinata's father…

They would be fine.

Beside her, Neji seemed to come back to her a little - he squeezed her hand gently and pulled her a little closer to him as they walked. Tenten smiled faintly as they moved down the pavement together, alone. Their evening had been ruined, but Neji was being affectionate tonight. She couldn't remember the last time they had held hands outside of the protection of four walls. Neji was always so careful.

By the time they'd made it to the restaurant, not the one they had originally planned on going to - their reservation was long since expired, the Hyuuga prodigy had dropped her hand, and they walked inside without touching. She tried to hide the disappointment from her expression as they sat down at a table. And wondered then if he would have noticed it even if she hadn't made the effort.

* * *

"Do you want to shower first?" Sakura asked, dropping her keys onto the table and plopping down on the couch arm. The sheets on the pull-out were still a mess from when she'd practically dragged Sasuke and Naruto out of them earlier that morning.

"It doesn't matter." Sasuke answered. "You go. You're cold."

She gave him a weird look. "It'll be easier for me to clean your wounds if you've already showered." She said, "Don't worry about me." Was Sasuke being _polite_?

The sour look that crossed over his handsomely dark face told her that he was about to put up a fight. Before he could say anything, she ran into her room and dug up an extra towel. "Here." She said, shoving it into his arms. "The bathroom's in there on the right wall." She said, pointing into her bedroom. "Everything should be clean."

"Sakura." He growled.

"You'll have to use girl's shampoo for now, sorry! I didn't think to buy you your own stuff." She said, all the while pulling him into her room and then opening the bathroom door. He gave her a slightly bewildered look. Was _she_ bossing _him_ around?

"Have fun!" She cooed a bit too sweetly and then proceeded to slam the door in his face as he frowned at her disbelievingly – totally taken aback by her aggressiveness. She sighed once he was on the other side, pressing her back against the wood of the door and slid down to her ankles. "He's exhausting." She said softly, closing her eyes, hand over her temples.

"I heard that." Sasuke's voice sliced through the door that separated them. Nevertheless, the sound of the bathwater being turned on followed.

"Well, it's true!" She said teasingly, before leaning her head back onto the wood. That dizzy feeling that she'd felt after earlier still hadn't gone away. She didn't understand why – the fight hadn't been _that_ strenuous. _Maybe its just basic dehydration_… she thought, walking into the kitchen and filling a glass from the tap. She leaned against the counter and looked into the living room. Her apartment was small. The first room upon entry was the biggest. She'd turned that into the living room, gave it some furniture, a TV, a pull out couch, table, bamboo plants. The room opened up to the kitchen in the back left, and her own bedroom in the back right. There was a door to her bedroom, none to the kitchen, and she'd set up a pretty paper divider to serve as a makeshift hallway from her room to the entrance of the kitchen, giving her a little bit of privacy from the living room. She didn't know why she needed it though. It was probably for her own aesthetic pleasure than anything else. The paper divider was the only thing in the house that was really worth anything. Pale pink and silver with dark goldfish swimming through frothy waterfalls - the actual divider was so thin that you could see shadows right through it.

She moved into the living room and set the glass down on the table, which had been pushed aside for the pull-out couch. With her quick, efficient, medic-ninja hands she changed the sheets that now would be only Sasuke's since Naruto had gone home. Or at least, she'd _hoped_ that he'd gone home. If he was still out with Hinata at this time of night she swore she'd beat the -

The door to the bathroom opened and then closed. Sakura yanked the last wrinkle out of Sasuke's sheets.

"I'm done." He said, his voice called her away form her work. She stood up to look at him. Her head was suddenly swimming.

Sasuke's eyes sharpened, a faint line appearing in his face. "Sakura?"

"I…" she trailed off as her vision began to fold in - closing around Sasuke's face. The corners of her world coming black and bleeding in. "I can't." She lost her balance, and started to black out. The last thing she felt were his hands coming around her waist to catch her, his still-warm, water-slick chest cradling her back. And then she was gone.

* * *

The voice inside her head was deep and silky. Monotone… and yet a little more concerned that it usually was… she recognized it… "-kura… _Sakura_."

Slowly she started to swim upwards to the sound, leaving the blackness behind. She was shaking when she opened her eyes. And she was also in Sasuke's arms. Well… sort of.

"What happened?" He asked her, still supporting all of her weight with his arms and chest.

"Uh… I don't know." Her thoughts were all disconnected.

He looked at her, and for a moment she thought actually saw a flicker of concern beneath those cold, dark eyes. "I'm fine." She smiled for him and tried to stand up.

"Don't." Sasuke said, and gingerly moved her to the bed. He sat her down, gently, and then stood, noticing her water. He handed it to her.

She took it gratefully, and started drinking. With every sip she started to feel a little more normal, the apartment stopped spinning, and the nauseous feeling that had blossomed in her gut was wilting steadily. Somewhere in mid-sip she noticed that Sasuke was only wearing a towel…

She took a deeper sip.

Just because you'd gotten over somebody didn't mean you didn't notice when they had a body like _that_. She coughed lightly and put the drained glass back on the table, averting her eyes to the floor.

"What happened?" He asked again, his deep, silky tone had a little bit of an edge.

"Nothing." She answered with a smile, starting to stand.

"Sit down." He said, stepping up to right up close to her so that they were almost touching – she could even smell him. He planted his hands firmly over her shoulders and pushed her back down. Her knees gave out surprisingly easily; she couldn't even put up a fight. Whether it was because she'd just gotten really, _really_ close to an eye-full half-naked Sasuke or because she was still a little dizzy she couldn't tell. But she really _hoped _it was the dizziness.

Her nose wrinkled at his condescending tone. "Sasuke, I'm fine."

His scoff told her that he didn't even come close to believing her.

"No, really. I just didn't get enough sleep last night," she really wished he'd move a step away "and today was a little stressful" or five "and on top of the fight I guess I just got a little tired."

"So you passed out." He finished for her, his tone very dry.

"Only for a second." She said. "Alright, you get dressed, I'll shower. See you in a second."

She felt his eyes follow her across the room, all the way until she'd shut the door behind her. Only then did she allow herself to worry. It _had_ been very strange. Her sudden light-headedness after a battle, the way she'd blacked out – if only for a second – back there in the living room.

If Sasuke hadn't been there to catch her she might have actually hurt herself. There wasn't any reason for it, either… Sakura shook her head and closed her eyes tight. "Don't worry about it, Sakura." She scolded. _It's nothing._

Sakura stripped, showered and washed out her hair, removing her troubles along with the grime and sweat that she rinsed from her scalp and skin. She loved the feeling of being clean.

* * *

"He really _did_ do a number on you." Sakura remarked as she sat on her knees behind Sasuke. The clean white sheets were underneath her, Sasuke's bare skin and raw wounds at her fingertips. She changed the bandaging with utmost care.

Sasuke let his eyes fall on the sliding glass door that lead to the balcony directly across from him. It was starting to rain. "Which one?" He asked.

Her eyes moved to the traces of the seal that were still barely imprinted on his neck. "…Both of them." She said softly.

The room became unnaturally tense. Sakura knew exactly what he was thinking about. She chose not to intrude.

"It's weird to think that he's dead." Sasuke replied, finally.

Sakura was glad for once, that he couldn't see her face, otherwise he might have been disgusted at the total surprise she'd let show. He was opening up to her? "Did - did you ever have any doubts?" She asked.

There was only silence on the other end. And then, "Itachi was always the stronger of us." His dark tone reminded her perfectly of the violet-black storm clouds outside. The first few raindrops pattered onto the glass of the slider door at which he stared so intently. When she glanced at it, over the top of his head, and saw his reflection - she noticed that his eyes were starting to turn a little red, even though the door was all the way across the room. His mouth was still below that bridge of fingers he always rested his lips on when he brooded. She couldn't read his expression.

She waited for a little while, pulling out a fresh bandage and wrapping it around his middle, having no choice but to rest her cheek between his shoulder blades in order to reach across his ribs. After the first five wraps she hesitated. "I always thought you were the strongest." She admitted quietly.

And Sasuke grew very still.

"…You were young. And you were stupid." He answered her slowly, moving his lips above the net of fingers.

Something white hot flashed inside her head – and it was not another dizzy spell – it was anger. Her nose wrinkled the way it always did when she was mad and she yanked on the bandages in her hands to make it just a little too tight around his broken chest.

Sasuke ground his teeth together to stop himself, but she still heard the cut-off noise of pain, and saw the muscles in his back flex against the bad feeling. His hands broke apart and one moved to press against his injured ribs, the other shot to grip the edge of the bed.

"Not anymore." She said hotly as she tied the knot and got off the bed. "Good night, Sasuke." She stalked out and slammed the door. And this time she didn't see the way Sasuke stared after her missing shape in the glass reflection, or then how his dark eyes focused on her closed door until he closed his them and flopped back onto the bed with a sigh.

_No, not anymore_… He thought to himself, and then frowned. _This… is **not**__good. _

* * *

Three weeks passed, and Sasuke was completely healed – with Sakura's help of course. She'd cheated a little, admittedly, a medic ninja was not really supposed to _completely_ heal the wounds of the injured with their chakra unless it was during a battle. Under normal circumstances - they were meant to merely give their patients little pushes to make sure that they were okay. But she had been unable to resist getting in the practice. Whenever Sasuke flinched in pain or moved with any hindrance, she'd put in an effort to almost completely heal the injury later that night. Sasuke knew. Even _he_ – the great Uchiha - shouldn't have been able to heal that quickly. He accused her more often than thanked her.

"You should stop." He would say when he felt almost no pain at all in his shattered wrist and three of his five broken ribs.

"Stop what?" She asked innocently.

He glared at her. "Draining your chakra like that. You're pushing yourself over the edge."

At that she always grew irritated. "I know what I can handle, thank you." She'd reply. But he noticed the way she needed to steady herself on counters, or made a point of sitting down after she'd worked with him for a very long time. It annoyed him a lot more than it should have – he knew that. So he remained silent more often than he liked.

Two weeks after he was deemed "healed" by a very suspicious Tsunade, and his training with Kakashi began.

His former sensei eyed him, and Sasuke knew that they both knew Sasuke was more powerful now. It was strange to feel that way, because Kakashi had always been someone that Sasuke had sort of looked up to. Well – that wasn't really the appropriate word. Rather, in Sasuke's eyes, it as Kakashi's level of strength that he would have to reach if he were to be able to defeat Itachi…

And now look at them. In an all-out fight with Kakashi, Sasuke would win – though it would be close.

"My." Kakashi said and Sasuke blinked.

"My?"

Kakashi smiled, Sasuke recognized the crinkle in his right eye.

"You've certainly grown up, haven't you? Sasuke."

* * *

His former pupil smirked at him. And it was exactly the same as when the boy was 13 years old and quarreling with Naruto. Kakashi felt something inside him stir. "You are stronger than me." He admitted to the dark-haired boy.

Sasuke's black eyes glittered, his expression suddenly all hard edges and shadows and cruel satisfaction.

"But if we were to fight each other now," Kakashi said in all seriousness. "I would win."

Sasuke's smirk deepened. "Really?" he asked, voice low and dangerous.

Kakashi smiled as well. "Yes." He replied. "Really."

It was as if Kakashi had waved a bright red flag in his face and then shouted "_Go_!" on the top of his lungs. In a fraction of a second, Sasuke's eyes started spinning those deadly crimson wheels. Kakashi slowly removed the corner of his mask to reveal his bad eye.

And Sasuke made the first move.

* * *

"Better, Sakura." Tsunade remarked, watching her apprentice struggle to be precise with her chakra. "Good…"

Burning beads of sweat formed on Sakura's forehead as she moved the thread of chakra through the incision she had made in the falcon's skin and up the vein. Even breathing was a distraction; she fought to remind herself to inhale. If she lost focus, or moved her cutting thread of chakra even a fraction of a millimeter the wrong way, she would slice trough the main aorta and cause the bird to bleed out, killing him.

Tsunade had created a blood clot right next to its heart, and knocked the bird out, instructing Sakura to remove the clot without doing any damage. It was so much more intense than she'd thought it would be. Birds' bodies were so delicate – they had to be, their bones were hollow for God's sake – it allowed them to fly. It made working on them five times as risky.

"I've got it." She said quietly as she felt her chakra hit something hard in the falcon's vein. She couldn't push it too hard, she might force it closer to the heart and cut off blood flow entirely.

"Good, now pierce through."

"Okay." Sakura focused on sharpening the tip of her chakra thread until it was microscopic yet still deadly. The smaller and sharper it was, the easier it would be to pierce through the clot. After she felt that she had gotten all the way through, she flattened out the tip of her chakra and cupped it into a dome, fitting it perfectly around the clot that she couldn't even see. All she could do was feel. It was difficult to operate blind, much less have complete control of your chakra when it's the size of a thread. When she pulled and felt the clot give she practically smiled in the middle of surgery. Then she remembered to focus, drew the clot all along the vein and pulled out of the incision. The tiny, microscopic bead of hardened matter ended up in the palm of her hand. Beneath her, the bird's eyes began to flutter.

"Close the incision." Tsunade instructed.

She did so.

"Nicely done, Sakura."

The cherry blossom grinned.

"Up for your second part of training?"

Sakura stood, throwing her head back to clear her face of the hair that had fallen forward when she'd bent over her work. "Yes, ma'am." She smiled.

Tsunade's punch was earth-shattering.

* * *

He couldn't believe it. He knew it as real – it must have been, he could feel the razor-fine edge of Kakashi's kunai pressed gingerly against his throat. The other man's arm barring his chest to the trunk of the tree, pinning him down. And the only thing running through Sasuke's brain was: _what – the – fuck. _

"Do you feel this?" Kakashi asked him, his tone completely placid and casual, as if nothing out of the ordinary was happening at all. "This is what's about to happen in about… three seconds."

"What?" Sasuke asked, feeling the apple of his throat bob against the edge of Kakashi's knife.

"One." His sensei started counting.

"Two." Sasuke still narrowed his eyes dangerously. _No way…_

"Three." Sasuke exhaled barely when the knife suddenly melted away, only to be replaced by a new one. The arm that barred him to the tree was suddenly not real, but before he could react, the same arm slipped back into place, exactly where it had been a moment ago. But harder now, more substantial. Sasuke glared daggers at his Sensei. The first time had been an illusion. And he'd fallen right for it.

He cursed angrily and pushed Kakashi away from him when his teacher let the knife fall away from his skin.

"You still have a few things to learn, Sasuke." Kakashi said to his student, who stood with his back to his teacher, fuming. "You may be stronger than I am. But I still _know_ you."

"And this makes you capable of defeating somebody?" Sasuke said coldly, his voice full of ice cold venom and contempt.

"Yes."

A muscle in Sasuke's jaw ticked as he slipped back into a fighting stance, a little bit more defensive this time, his hand was on his sword. "Fine." He spat. "Come at me again."

The red wheel reemerged in Kakashi's bad eye, but a smile crinkled it at the same time.

Sasuke frowned in confusion. "What-"

"Sasuke-kun!"

"Oomph." Sasuke shuddered under the weight that had launched itself at his back, mildly surprised. "Get off me, Sakura." He ground out.

The arms around his neck loosened and slipped away, but when he turned around, the girl behind him was not Sakura. He blinked. Ino gave him a sour look. "I'm _not_ Sakura." She stated.

Sasuke felt a flicker of something inside his chest. He was bewildered by it… was this… _disappointment_? Disappointment that the girl who had launched herself at him and threw her arms around his neck didn't have rose pink hair and sharp, jade eyes and couldn't shatter rock walls with the casual punch of a fist? _What the **hell**? _He banished the emotion, now even broodier than ever, and watched while Kakashi stepped forwards and started to talk with Ino.

"Ino. What are you doing here?" He asked pleasantly. Sasuke wished he would be ruder. Maybe that would get rid of her sooner.

Ino folded her hands behind her back. "I was actually looking for Sakura. She's supposed to be training somewhere around here… but then I saw you two, and figured I'd say hi. Besides, I'm still mad at her anyway for blowing off our shopping trip a while ago."

Sasuke stared at Ino… it as a _shopping trip_ for crying out loud. He and Naruto had been _dying_. Where the hell did her priorities lie anyway?

"You could make it better, Sasuke, if _you_ came shopping with me inste-"

"No."

Ino shrugged, and put on a pretty smile. "Oh well. Can I join the two of you in training? It's been a while since I had a spar."

Sasuke and Kakashi exchanged looks. Both of them knew that they didn't want _anybody_ interfering with the type of training that they were doing. It was too war-like, too strange, too out of control. After all, Sasuke had actually been trying to seriously _wound_ Kakashi during their last so-called "spar" and it wasn't as if the silver haired man had gone easy on him either.

"Err… well, Sasuke and I are done for today." Kakashi sent his student a look that clearly said_ Shut up now, Sasuke. Shut up, shut up, shut up._

He did not very much like to be told to shut up. Especially not by Kakashi. He _still_ didn't know how the hell the guy had beaten him. He knew he was stronger. They both knew. It was infuriating. He could beat Itachi, but not the man who failed to Itachi? Sasuke clenched his fists. There was no explanation.

Or, none that he could think of anyway. He hated it.

* * *

The blonde-haired young man stood seriously on the sidelines, watching as the pink haired girl and blonde-haired Hokage battled it out with inhuman strength. His eyes had narrowed down to squints as he frowned. He watched the way Tsunade took shots at his little kunoichi, without holding back.

He didn't like it.

He didn't like it one bit.

"Naruto! Hey!"

The blonde turned around slightly, barely making the effort to look over his shoulder before he turned back to what was going on front of him. It was only Ino, Sasuke and Kakashi, trailing up from behind in a loose group, with Kakashi's nose buried deep inside Icha Icha Pardise Volume XVIIICI, Ino flirting shamelessly with Sasuke, and Sasuke being broody as usual.

Sasuke was soon at his side, as far away from Ino as he could possibly stand. "What the hell are you doing? Shouldn't you be training right about now, dobe?"

"Could say the same to you, Sasuke-teme." Naruto shot back, but his heart wasn't in it. The Uchiha frowned.

Sasuke then let his dark eyes drift to the battle in front of them. Sakura managed to clumsily dodge a kick that shattered a crater into the rocks behind her, but failed to land her punch.

Beside him, Naruto shifted uncomfortably, while Ino watched with the sort of smile that Sasuke didn't like at all.

"If you're so concerned about her, why don't you interfere?" He commented darkly, as the two men adopted to watching their childhood friend dodge deathly blows. Their atmosphere turned grim. Sasuke had to keep the feeling that he wanted to jump into the fray and pound someone from threading up his veins. He convinced himself that it was only because Naruto was on edge and he was still frustrated to losing to Kakashi – which he was. But a part of him wished that Naruto would take his suggestion seriously.

"Humph." Naruto made an effort to unclench his fists. "Like she'd let me."

Sasuke scoffed at that. "_You _want to be the next Hogake, don't you?" He challenged. "You shouldn't you be able to stand up to the fifth if you want to surpass her?"

Naruto looked at Sasuke as if he were the dumbest creature on earth. "I mean _Sakura_." He clarified.

"Huh – _ah_!" Tsunade threw a boulder the size of Sakura's apartment at the smaller girl.

Sasuke's and Naruto's hearts both slammed into their chests as they watched, beside them Ino let out a small gasp. Sakura froze.

Wrong move.

Before either of them could react, Kakashi's streak of silver suddenly blurred passed them into the field. And then he was there, his arms wrapping around Sakura's waist like vices, ready to rip her out of the way of danger like he had done so many times when she was a child. But the only thing he seemed to do this time was jolt her back into reality.

"No!" Sakura screamed suddenly aware, yanking her former Sensei off of her and throwing him out of the way.

Naruto choked on her name. Now her back was turned.

The cherry blossom turned around at the last possible second and shot her fist out before her. It would never work. It _shouldn't _have worked. But the rock shattered against her tiny, too-human, too fragile fist, and threw her backwards. She cried out in pain as she hit the ground, hard. She slid against the turf, marring it, while pieces of earth and slate came raining down around her in deadly patterns. She never saw the blackness that had enclosed her entire fist and dissipated when she hit the rock that brought her rocketing body to a halt.

She'd broken her arm.

Tsunade stopped, eye narrowed. "Can you handle that?" She demanded.

Sakura stood, shakily, white as a sheet. It really, really _hurt_. She looked down at the way her joints bent too far the wrong way, and her nerves started screaming at her. She bit her lip so hard she tasted blood, and shakily forced her other hand onto the broken skin. She concentrated her chakra, but it was weak and ebbing from the earlier fighting and surgery practice.She was drained.

She faltered. She _hated_ it when she faltered. And Sasuke and Naruto was watching… she could feel it. She'd _promised_ to protect both of them from now on. She'd promised.

Somehow Kakashi was by her side. "Sakura." He put his hand on her shoulder. "Let Tsunade do it."

"_I_ can do it!" She snapped angrily, and suddenly her body was surging with power. Kakashi backed sharply away from her and she wiped her left hand over her right, clearing away all cuts and bruises, and molding her arms, sculpting her muscles and bones back into the right shape in one fell swoop. Her arms zinged with energy afterwards, and suddenly she felt dizzy. Her head began to swim.

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto's voice called out to her and she grit her teeth together. Ino and Sasuke were there too.

Sasuke and Naruto were here, coming towards her to protect her. She could _feel_ them. She didn't _need_ them. She _wasn't_ going to let things be like the way they were before. _No_. She clenched her teeth and forced herself back into reality, her body still zinging with that uncomfortable feeling, like her skin was ready to buzz off her bones and strip her bare.

She forced it into the back of her mind. "I'm fine…" she said angrily, not knowing why she as angry, but not caring to figure it out. "I can _handle _it."

Kakashi and Tsuande exchanged looks with each other. This was _not_ normal Sakura.

"Sakura, are you alright?" Ino called from a distance.

"Sakura, you should lie down." Naruto said, reaching his pink-haired friend in a fraction of a second. Sasuke appearing behind him, Ino still at the sidelines.

She pulled violently away from her friend. "I'm _fine_." She hissed.

Naruto blinked, a flash of hurt in his sharp blue eyes. For a moment, Sakura faltered. And then she grew angrier at him for making her feel that way. She opened her mouth to yell.

"Sakura." Silken dark tones pierced into her cloud of inexplicable anger. She met Sasuke's commanding glare. "Sit down."

She glared at him, and he held her stare, unbreaking.

"Sakura-chan…" Naruto coaxed. And she resisted the urge to slap him.

But she couldn't have even if she'd tried. She never broke her stare with those iron-black eyes, Sasuke seemed to be drawing her in. Slowly, she became grounded again, and the zinging in her veins died with the roaring in her ears. She sighed and put her hand to her head, suddenly exhausted. "I'm … tired." She confessed, and her knees almost gave out, but she held her stance.

"C'mon, let's get you something to eat." Naruto said, putting his arm around her shoulders. "It fixes everything." He smiled. "Sasuke will pay." He ignored the glare the glare the Uchiha shot him.

Sakura smiled faintly, her anger completely gone and faded from her mind. In a couple of hours she wouldn't be able to recall ever being angry at all…

* * *

Tsunade and Kakashi were worried. And as they left Sasuke shot them a look that clearly said: _Your fault. _

* * *

END.

Reviews are like my sugar rushes! Please donate now! n-n.


	7. Let the Good Times Roll

**A/N**: read the story first. then read the a/n at the bottom? becuase they wont make sense unless you do it that way. :-)

**Disclaimer**: I do not own Naruto. (weeping)

* * *

The obnoxious slurping of ramen was always deafening when you sat next to Naruto. But then, Sakura supposed there was nothing new about that.

"Naruto!" She finally exclaimed, stabbing her chopsticks into her own bowl, half exasperated and half entertained. "Do you think you could at least try to be a _little _more polite?"

"_Wuh?_" Nartuo replied, noodle still hanging out of his mouth like a limp beard over his chin.

Sakura gave him a semi-disgusted look. With a nervous gulp, Naruto hastily swallowed the rest of the noodles down his throat, no chewing involved. Sakura and Sasuke both had to dodge the shower of broth as he sucked the empty carbs through his teeth.

After wiping her left eye with the side of her hand, Sakura glared at her blond friend. "Does Hinata have to put up with this whenever you take her out to dinner?"

"Nope." Naruto replied. "I don't take Hinata out to Ramen stands. Remember, Sakura? _You _were the one who told me to never take you or any other girl I was going out with on a ramen-date again."

"Um! Can I have more!" Sakura said loudly, standing up and offering her only half-finished bowl to the puzzled chef. It was a good attempt at trying to cut Naruto off, but it was a couple seconds too late. She shot a glance over her shoulder at Sasuke to see if he'd noticed the implications of what Naruto had said. From profile, it seemed as if he were listening to white noise. His expression, as usual, was stony and contained. For a moment it reminded her of Sai. But she wasn't relieved. She knew Sasuke had heard Naruto and seen her embarrassed reaction. … And … she was embarrassed about it? Since when?

The chef dalloped another thick wad of noodles and broth into her bowl, stirring Sakura out of her thoughts. Slowly, she sat back down with a bowl full of noodles that she didn't really want. She stared into the steam. Naruto was still busy being taken aback by her sudden outburst.

"…Oi, Sakura. Are you sure you're okay? You've been acting a little weird today." Naruto said. On Sakura's right, Sasuke didn't move his head from over his bowl, but his stare moved to the corners of his eyes, watching the conversation, now interested.

"What?" Sakura turned, her speech still quick from embarrassment. "What kind of question is that?"

"Well," Naruto started "Youjust ordered seconds on ramen before _I_ did." He pointed out, his brows furrowed.

Sakura gave him a very deliberate look. As if rising to his challenge, she pushed the newly filled ramen bowl towards him. "Here." She said. "It's yours."

Naruto _stared_. "And just now you gave me something for free!" He exclaimed, looking up at her with a teasing smile. "Saaaakura-chan. That was actually _nice_ of you. Are you _sure_ you're not sick?"

Sakura blinked. "I'm always nice, you jerk!" She retaliated, smacking him on the back and making him catch the table with his hands to avoid face-dunking in his dinner. As it was, a little bit of it spilled over the side of the bowl.

"_Ow_, Sakura." Naruto sat up, cringing to reaching over his shoulder to rub his new injury. "That's too much." He said.

She gave him a look that said: _deal with it_.

When Naruto finished smiling, his face went very suddenly from light-hearted, to a little too serious. "But really, Sakura." His vibrant blue eyes glanced over to Sasuke. When he made brief eye-contact with the dark-haired boy, he was able to read from his eyes that the Uchiha was behind him on this one, almost pressuring him to interrogate Sakura. "Even today on the field, you were acting pretty strange."

Sakura frowned, and tilted her head fractionally. "What do you mean?"

"Like… the way you shattered that rock. I know! I know! You're strong." Naruto said quickly when he saw Sakura open her mouth in protest. "But… you really should have had more than a broken arm. Otherwise, Kakashi would never have stepped in… right?"

The boys watched as Sakura's expression grew darker, as if she were struggling with something. "I…" she frowned. "I don't really… remember."

Naruto leaned in towards her. "What? You don't? What do you mean? It was just this afternoon."

"I know." Sakura said, looking up at him. "I mean, I remember it." She frowned. "But it's all just kind of a blur." she frowned even more as her concentration deepened. "Like, I can't seem to make it out."

Again Naruto and Sasuke exchanged glances. That was odd.

"What about how angry you got afterwards when everybody was trying to help you?" Naruto asked. "You remember that don't you?"

Sakura's frown deepened, until she almost looked pained. Her hand moved up and rubbed at her temples, thumb on one side, and her middle finger on the other. It was what she did when she couldn't figure something out. That was when Naruto saw it. The threads of black glowing around her fingertips. His heart-beat quickened, eyes growing wider. His breath choked for a moment in his throat. He remembered that glow. But where had he seen it before?

The moment he blinked, the blackness seemed to dissipate. For a moment he wondered if he had imagined it. But he knew better than to question these instincts.

Sakura sighed and leaned back. "I think I'm just tired." She admitted. "I'm going to go home. If that's okay?" She asked, turning to Sasuke, who still hadn't finished his noodles.

With a stoic nod the dark boy pushed away the remains of his dinner and stood, hands heavy in his pockets. "Ready."

"Whose paying?" The chef pushed, appearing out of nowhere. Naruto flinched for only a fraction of a second. Only Sasuke with his inhuman senses noticed it.

"Him." Naruto jabbed a finger at Sasuke without missing a beat, his face straight and tone perfectly flat.

The chef turned expectantly at the scowling Uchiha. Who dug around in his pockets for coins and threw them at the guy behind the counter. He caught them with the ease reserved for a man who had been serving ninjas at his bar for years.

"I'll walk you guys." Naruto said, slipping off his stool. "You're on my way anyway."

Sakura frowned and looked at him. "No we're not. You apartments at south west, mines south east."

Naruto shrugged. "And the Uchiha manor is north. What's your point?"

Sakura looked hard at him. "That none of them are on the others' way. Especially not yours and mine. And what's Sasuke's house got to do with anything?" Sakura challenged, hands on her hips.

Naruto shrugged. "Nothing. Just pointing out that the three of us make a triangle."

With that Sakura _glared _at her blond friend, making him laugh. "I'm not heading to my house anyway." He said. "I've got something to take care of."

"What could you possibly-"

"Let it go, Sakura." Naruto and Sasuke said in unplanned unison, startling all three of them. Naruto blinked, Sasuke scowled, and Sakura looked between the two for a while before shaking her head. "Whatever. I guess I'll treat your wounds at my place." She said to Naruto, starting to walk.

"Deal." Naruto said, falling into stride with his two best friends. It felt good, to have them by his side again, the both of them. Team Seven, two of the only people in the world he could trust. All of them together again like this, which he'd fought so hard for - sometimes it was enough to make him grin. So he did.

Sasuke sent him a look as if to ask him what the hell he was so happy about. Naruto only let out a short laugh and then stared up at the sky. Everything was perfect these days.

Well… almost everything. He let his glance fall down to Sakura's hands. They looked normal enough now, and Sasuke hadn't seen the black threads or else he would have mentioned it already. Wouldn't he? Well, it didn't matter, because _he_, Uzumaki Naruto, had seen it. And he bet it had had something to do with Sakura's freakish display of power, her odd behavior, and her incapability to remember it at the ramen stand.

"Ok, don't pick at those." Sakura reminded Naruto as she pushed him out the door.

"I can't help it, Sakura, it itches in my sleep."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "You're such a baby. Show some self control why don't you?"

Naruto pouted. "But-"

Sakura laughed. "Get out, bum. I need to get to sleep."

"Ah, ah." Naruto said with a smile. "Good night, Sakura."

She smiled back at him. "Night, Naruto."

Smile still lingering on both their faces, Naruto tilted his chin up to yell back into the apartment. "Oi, Teme! Don't do anything stupid like you always do because I'm leaving!"

"So leave, Dobe." Sasuke snapped back from where he stood, leaning against the wall on the other side of the living room. Naruto could have sworn he caught a hint of a smile tugging at the corner of Sasuke's mouth. It was so slight that he just barely caught it. He smiled back.

"Alright," He looked at Sakura. "Goodnight." He said with a wave, and started down the hallway, disappearing around the corner. When he was out of sight, Sakura closed the door behind him and walked back into the apartment.

Sasuke was there.

Awkward silence reigned between them. "So." She said, crossing her arms. "You want anything before you go to bed?"

It was only 10:00 at night, she didn't even know if Sasuke had been thinking about going to bed. But she knew that in order to watch over him the two of them should go to bed at around the same time. It wouldn't do for her to be unconscious in another room and leave him to his own devices, what kind of supervisor would she be then?

"No." Sasuke answered.

"OK. Well, I'm going to take a shower. Unless you want to first?"

Sasuke shrugged and leaned his head back on the wall, closing his eyes, arms still crossed against his chest, ankles crossed on the floor, barring himself from the outside, and from her.

Sakura sighed. Sometimes talking to him was like beating her head against 12 inches of steel. And she was too tired for this right now. "Alright, I won't be long. Help yourself to the kitchen or TV. I'll be out in a bit."

She left the room and jumped in the shower, feeling instantly gratified when the hot streams of liquid cascaded over her shoulders and soaked through her strawberry pink hair.

Sasuke stood in silence for a while, listening to the sound of water periodically slapping against the bath floor. Finally, he stood, pushing off the wall and walked over to the TV. It was placed on the middle shelf of a five-shelf complex, surrounding it were all kinds of video tapes and DVDS. Aimlessly he picked through them, until his eyes caught on a black shoe box. Sakura's neat handwriting had labeled it with silver marker: **Letters & Journal. **

Without hesitation he picked up the box and opened it. He was met with about seven or eight video tapes. Pulling them out, they were all labeled different things. **Graduation, 16****th**** Birthday, Naruto and Me – Spring Festival… **and it went on and on, dated and organized chronologically. Typical Sakura. And then he found one, somewhere in the middle, that caught his eye. Labeled with only one heading: **Our Letter to Sasuke**.

The tape was fully rewound and seemed to be staring at him expectantly. Emotionlessly, he turned on the TV and slipped the tape in. The machine accepted it quietly, eating the plastic and film straight from his hand. The screen went blue for a second, and then kicked to life.

He recognized the surroundings immediately – the woods of Konoha, a familiar training spot for team 7. In fact, this had been where Kakashi had preformed the bell-test for them all those years ago. The camera moved shakily around, filming trees with kunai marks sliced permanently into their bark, the leaves, the canopy, then back down to the forest floor. Sasuke sat down and stared at the video with contempt. Whoever was filming, they weren't doing a great job. Suddenly, the camera made a 180 degree turn that would have made any normal human being's stomach lurch. Sasuke's face crinkled in distain as the camera zoomed far too close into someone's face, then zoomed out until the face could be made out to be Naruto's. The blonde squinted at the camera for a while before grinning. Sasuke's eyebrows raised, his eyes still half lidded. Figures it was the Dobe.

"_Hey Teme_! _It's me_! _Uzumaki Naruto_! _Heh!"_

A muscle Sasuke's jaw ticked in irritation and almost reached for the power button before he changed his mind. It wasn't as if it was any more obnoxious than normal Naruto.

"_Well_," Naruto's voice continued as the camera moved back to filming the Konoha woods, the view shaking with each of Naruto's steps. "_You're too stubborn to come home, so Sakura and I thought we'd send you a letter. Speaking of Sakura…_"

Naruto's hand moved in front of a particular tree branch and moved it aside to reveal the river bank. "_There she is, eating with Kakashi and Sai._ _She's gotten to be kind of pretty huh?_"

Just as Naruto had narrated, Sakura, Kakashi, and a dark-haired boy that Sasuke recognized were sitting together on a checkered blanket, food spread out before them. Sakura and Kakashi were smiling and laughing about something that Sasuke couldn't quite here. Sai sat and watched them, looking content. Upon Naruto's compliment, Sakura's head snapped up. "_Naruto! What are you doing with my camera?_"

She looked younger, Sasuke noticed, than the Sakura he was living with now. In fact, she looked very much like the Sakura who had first met him at Orochimaru's hideout and tried to take him home with Naruto three years ago. The tape had probably been made either just before or after their first reunion.

"_Ah, ah, Sakura-chan. I'm just making something for Sasuke-teme._"

He saw the flash of surprise and hurt that entered Sakura's jade eyes at the mention of his name. She recovered quickly. She sighed heavily and then smiled at the camera "_Naruto, when are you going to grow up, huh?_"

"_Psh, Sakura-chan, still grumpy as ever." _Naruto complained, turning the camera away, from her to the silver haired man beside her. "_Kakashi-sensei, do you have anything to say to Teme?" _

Kakashi's unveiled eye crinkled with a smile and he waved casually at the camera. "_Waiting for you to get back, Sasuke._"

On that note the camera swiveled back around to a sloppily filmed image of Naruto's eyes, which were glaring at the screen. "_Yeah, Sasuke, get your ass back here soon. Or else I'll kick it all the way back to Konoha? Got that?"_

Sasuke scoffed and watched as the camera swung back to film the dark-haired ninja.

"_Er – anyway, this is Sai."_ Naruto said. "_He's our new teammate. He's a pretty special guy, but… I'll tell you more about him when you get back." _

The boy stared expressionlessly at the camera. For a moment, Sasuke got the impression that he was staring at a blank slate. The boy's stoic stare held none of the contempt and boredom that automatically entered Sasuke's own stare. Sai's was just… blank. Sasuke disliked him immediately.

Finally, a very awkward, deliberate smile spread across the boy's face and he waved his hand. "_Hello, Sasuke-kun. I hope you are well_."

The tape then continued, Sasuke watched as Naruto and Sakura covered every inch of Konoha, reaching back into old Team 7 memories, and meeting up with their old classmates. He recognized each of his classmates, though they were considerably older than the twelve and thirteen year olds he had left behind, and younger than the nineteen and eighteen year olds he had returned to.

They all had things to say to Sasuke.

Ino was at first annoyed at being unexpectedly filmed at her flower shop and threatened to punch out Naruto's eyes. But when she heard it was a letter to Sasuke, she turned her classic flirtatious grin. "Hi, Sasuke-kun!" She called, voice coated with sugar. "I miss you so you'd better come home soon, okay? I've got flowers and cake waiting for you at my house so come over here first!"

Behind her, Shikamaru cringed at her overly-girly tone.

"Annoying." He grumbled to himself, turning away from the camera when it zoomed in on him.

Rock Lee on the other hand met the project with as much enthusiasm as Naruto had and convinced an unwilling Sakura to film a tandem martial arts routine expressing their mutual desire to return Sasuke home as soon as possible!

"_For the sake of youthful rigor!_" Lee chimed.

"_What Furry Brows said!" _Naruto grinned.

They struck a pose that was far too much like something Gai would have done. Sasuke almost blanched.

"_OK, that's it." _Sakura's voice interrupted as they were in the midst of tag-teaming an innocent tree which was mean to be Orochimaru. "_I'm turning this off." _

"_WHAT!?!" _The two boys halted abruptly and looked at her in horror.

"_NO, SAKURA! WE HAVEN'T EVEN REACHED THE FINALE YE-"_

Sakura's hand came in view of the camera, bringing up the lens cap to envelop the TV in blackness.

When the video came back to life they continued to film Neji and Tenten, who broke apart from their training to be filmed. Sasuke noticed that they stood much closer together than they used to, and Neji hardly said anything, leaving Tenten to say "we" a lot, speaking for him, which was abnormal.

Finally Naruto came back on the screen, and after delivering a couple more threats, he declared that the letter had been written and the tape cut off. Sasuke stared for a moment, and was about to hit eject when Sakura came back on the screen.

This time the footage was limited to just her bedroom, the old one that she used to live in before she moved out. It was dark in the room, and objects wee lit only by a green light from the camera. She was dressed in civilian clothes, it was obviously her time off. She had waited until she was alone to film this.

She had positioned the camera so that she could comfortably sit on her bed and be fully seen. She looked away from the camera absently, as if thinking, before she started talking. When she did, she looked right at the camera, her gaze direct and strong, nothing like the shy, indirect glances she used to offer him in their Team 7 days. For Sasuke it felt very different.

"_Mmm, Sasuke, I know that in reality this tape probably won't get to you. And even if it does, you probably won't watch it. But in case you do, I'm sorry for how sloppy Naruto was with it. Knowing you, you'll probably think it's junk. But… we worked hard on it… Naruto really worked hard on it. I hope you appreciate it. And… we made this tape because… well, yeah, I guess" _She hesitated for a moment. "_I guess that's all I really wanted to say. So, hopefully, we'll be finding you soon, maybe you could even watch this… please watch it. I know it's more for us than it is for you but still… OK, well, I guess I'll turn this thing off now. Bye, Sasuke." _

With that she leaned forward and reached behind the screen, and the tape went blank. Sasuke caught something in its last few second of taping, frowning, he reached forward and rewound Sakura's speech. When he saw what he wanted to see he pressed pause. Sakura was looking right at the camera, her mouth in mid-sentence. But it was behind her that Sasuke was focusing.

On the night-stand beside her table, there was a framed picture of her and the Dobe, embracing. His left arm was around her waist, his right hand holding the camera above them. Sasuke traced the lines of Sakura's arms, which were wrapped around Naruto's neck, her cheek pressed into the hollow of his shoulder and his neck. The Dobe grinned, Sakura was smiling, and Sasuke stared. Once again, the people in the picture were noticeably younger than the Sakura and Naruto he had returned to, but there was no questioning that they hadn't included everything that had happened to them in the letter-tape. Because that picture was definitely one of a boyfriend and girlfriend.

Sasuke stared at the TV a while longer before rewinding it and ejecting it. He found the tape that was directly behind it, labeled **Naruto and Me - Spring Festival**. Slowly, he put this tape in the VCR and pressed play. When the tape kicked to life, Naruto was filming himself and Sakura. They were somewhere on a street corner in the middle of the night, the spring festival was taking place all around them. Together they were laughing and touching, the camera moved from the two of them to the surrounding festival. They talked a while at the camera, held onto each other, and filmed the happy faces in the festival, faces that Sasuke recognized from childhood. Ino and Shikamaru were holding hands, which definitely had not been a part of his letter-tape, though they were only a few months apart in date. It made sense, Sasuke realized, now that he thought about it. Of course they wouldn't show them the couples, or the real full lives of the people he had left behind. Back then, they had still been enemies and the more you let your enemy know about yourself the more dangerous it was. That was why Ino and Shikamaru hadn't let on that they were together in his letter. After all, if he had actually cared, on his return to Konoha he would have simply had to hold one of them hostage to get the other to talk or help. The same with Naruto and Sakura. He was about to rewind the tape to re-watch the beginning when he felt someone behind him.

"What are you doing?" Sakura asked.

He could smell her shampoo. He didn't know how he hadn't picked up on her earlier. Sasuke remained still and regarded only the images flicking onto the screen before him. "I watched my letter." He said, his voice perfectly neutral.

Behind him, Sakura grew stiff. "And it was so fascinating that you decided to watch the festival too?" It would take an idiot to not be able to tell that she was being facetious.

Sasuke didn't reply. "I saw a picture on your nightstand."

He could practically see the frown on Sakura's face. "What picture?" She asked.

"Of you and Naruto." He said. "It was beside your bed when you filmed the end of the letter."

Suddenly the images were cut off, the TV screen went black. Sasuke stood and saw Sakura standing behind him in her PJs, remote in her hand. "We were sixteen." She said. "We'd just missed getting you back. It was only for a few months… and in the end we decided we were just close friends anyway."

Sasuke stared directly at her, his dark gaze piercing. "I didn't ask you to explain yourself." He said, tone low.

He saw the surprise and then anger flash through her eyes. "And I didn't ask you to pry into my past."

Sasuke was filled with the alien sensation of Sakura pushing him away for the first time in his life. The silence between them was deafening. Finally she turned away from him and started making his bed. He wanted to snap at her to stop. He could make his own bed for God's sake, he wasn't a little boy or one of her helpless patients. He could kill her if he wanted too. Looking down at her, he crossed his arms and said the only thing that came to mind. "You and Naruto." He said quietly, even though he'd just told her to drop it.

"Three years ago." Sakura said.

"Two." Sasuke corrected, not missing a beat.

"Almost three." She countered.

It was a complicated, dangerous battle they suddenly found themselves fighting. He had to calculate his next step.

"Do you care?" She asked, turning around to face him.

He felt the scowl distort his face. "No." His answer was obvious. It had been an unnecessary question.

"He's not as stupid as you think he is." She said suddenly, it was a challenge.

Sasuke scoffed, an automatic reaction, and started to walk away to the shower. Sakura's face creased in sudden anger and she cut in front of him. "What do you think you know about him anyway, Sasuke?" She asked. "_You_, who hasn't been here for years? _We've changed_. _Konoha _has changed. You can't just come back after six years and judge him."

"I'll judge whomever as I see fit." Sasuke cut her off, his tone venomous and low. "_I_ wasn't the one volunteering to come back."

"You can't blame us for trying." Sakura snapped.

"Why come after me." Sasuke said. "Why go through all the trouble and make this piece of junk for me when you both knew I didn't want to have anything to do with you?" He asked, picking up his video letter and showing it to her. "Four years after I leave and the two of you are still so sappy and sentimental about it that you'd do something like _this_?"

Sakura stared at the video tape with cold green eyes. "We were friends." She said, never looking away from the tape, her voice began to rise. "The three of us. It meant something to _me _and it meant something to _Naruto_ and that was all that mattered."

"This friendship ended years ago." Sasuke said, suddenly furious, the anger building up inside him, pulsing through his veins. "_I _ended it. It was _stupid_ for him to chase after something that was already gone."

The tension built between them, and finally Sasuke looked away. "I'm going to shower." He said, turning angrily away from her.

"_Hey_!" Sakura's hand shot out of no where and wrapped around his forearm like a vice. Anger radiated from her skin, hot to the touch and far too tight for Sasuke's taste. Her newfound strength took him by surprise. It actually… _hurt_.

'_Wrong move_.' Sasuke thought. Furiously, he whipped around and yanked his arm out of her grip, hurting her. Before either of them realized what had happened he was right in her face, heat radiating from him. They were only inches apart.

"_What_." His voice was low and dangerous and laced with promises of pain.

He was so close to her that she could feel his heartbeat through the air between them. Amazing, angry heat was scorching her skin and she could almost feel it vibrating the nerves in her chest. It took all she had to hold his gaze, which was starting to turn crimson. He was irate, and she knew that if she made any wrong moves now it would all be over. Because this boy, her childhood friend, who she had loved for years, could kill her in five seconds. And he probably wouldn't hesitate either. The intensity of the moment rendered her a breathless, her chest started to ache.

Sasuke continued to stare down at her, anger making him see only red. When he saw the fear in her eyes he felt a touch of satisfaction. And then… it bothered him. It really bothered him. Struggling, he tried to formulate something he wasn't sure he wanted to say. He didn't even really know what it was. Finally, he turned away from her in heated frustration, wordlessly moving towards the bathroom.

Her voice stopped him halfway there.

"We made the tape because we missed you." She said suddenly, her voice quiet, but at the same time determined and unyielding, as if daring him to respond.

Sasuke turned around. Hurt and anger were swimming from Sakura's posture to her eyes, which were looking at the ground. Eventually they moved up and met his in that even, steady gaze that he was so unused to seeing on her.

Sasuke said nothing.

* * *

**A/N**: OK so its not a Sakura, Naruto fiction. Really, they're very close friends, which will serve to cause issues in the future between Sakura and Sasuke, but no, no romance anymore. Just extremely close friendship. And i mean, can you blame them? they went through hell together. I think that makes a bond. :-). laters. 


	8. A natural reaction

Quote: _Anger is only a natural reaction; one of the mind's ways of reacting to things that it perceives to be wrong. While anger can sometimes lead people to do shocking things, it can also be an instinct to show people that something isn't right…_

"You got into a fight with Sasuke?"

"Sort of." Sakura said, holding the phone tight against her ear. "Kind of… yes."

Ino paused on the other end. "'Sort of, kind of, yes.'." She repeated flatly. "So, that's really just a 'yes'."

Sakura sighed and continued to move around the kitchen, breaking two eggs and mixing them into the pancake batter. "I mean, I'm not even really sure what we got into a fight about." She confessed, beating the milk in with a bit too much force. "First it was like, a fight over me and Naruto." Sakura said.

"You mean…"

"I mean how we used to go out." Sakura said.

"You _told_ Sasuke?" Ino asked. "How the hell did _that_ casually come up?"

"It didn't!" Sakura poured the white batter into the pre-heated pan, not flinching as it hissed angrily at her. She quelled the urge to tell it to shut up. "He watched that tape we made for him. The letter from like, I don't know, three years ago?"

"You _gave_ him the letter?" Ino's voice was escalating with each new sentence.

"No, he found it. When I was showering, he found it." Sakura said impatiently, scooping the first pancake onto a plate that had been sitting at the ready. "He saw a picture of me and Naruto on my nightstand and went back into the tapes to find out more."

"Are you kidding me?" Ino asked on the other line. Sakura could practically see the semi-outraged, semi-shocked look on Ino's face.

"No. He watched the spring festival form a while back-"

Something heavy fell to the ground on the other line.

"Ino?" Sakura put down her spatula, concerned. "Ino, are you alri-"

"SAKURA!" Ino's shout practically deafened her in her left ear. She nearly dropped the phone into the pancake mix. "SHIKAMARU AND I ARE _ON THAT TAPE_!"

"What?"

"That's been an on-off thing for _years_ and you know it!" Ino accused.

"I know! Why-?"

"Well, have you explained that to SASUKE!?" Ino demanded.

Sakura frowned, still holding the phone at arms length to avoid bursting her eardrums. "_What_?"

"Have you _told_ him that Shikamaru and I are off?" Ino demanded.

"What the-" Realization struck. "Oh, Ino, that's so not the poin-"

"_Sakura_." Ino cut her off. "If you don't tell that boy that I'm single and available and _waiting _for him and he doesn't come by because he thinks I'm involved with that stubborn, lazy, arrogant, useless son of a – I'll _kill_ you."

Sakura rolled her eyes. "I know."

"So you'll tell him." Ino pressed.

"Yeah, I'll tell him." Sakura said, returning the phone to her ear and picking up her spoon.

"Go tell him now."

"I can't, Ino, he's training with Kakashi."

"…Fine."

Sakura raised an eyebrow and looked at the ceiling, trying to hold her patience. "Can I continue now?"

"Yeah, go." Ino said. It sounded like she was trying to pick up wathever it was that she had dropped earlier in the conversation. "But tell him right after he comes back." She added as a quick afterthought. Sakura rolled her eyes.

"Ok, so, at first it was like we were fighting about Naruto. And then… it just… it turned into something else."

"Like what?"

"Like… I don't even know. I mean, I guess it was about his decision to… you know."

"To leave." Ino finished for her, never being one to beat around the bush, even on the most painful of topics. Not hat this was painful – everyone in Konoha had accepted what Sasuke had done and continued to talk about it casually. It was a part of ninja life. Still, everyone knew that it bothered Sakura and Naruto a little bit more.

"Yeah, to leave." Sakura said, practically stabbing beneath her pancake and chucking it onto the plate. "And, he got… defensive about it like always."

"Defensive?" Ino sounded surprised. "Really?"

"Yeah." Sakura said.

"Are you sure he got '_defensive'_?" Ino pressed.

"Why?" Sakura asked, getting irritated.

"Because, Sakura, people only get '_defensive_' about things they've done when they actually regret it."

Sakura thought about this, feelings and logic shifting through her veins as uneasily as water and oil. It was an uncomfortable sensation. "He doesn't regret it." She finally said, her voice a little cold.

"Right." Ino sighed. "I didn't think so. So, what you mean to say is that he got mean about it."

Sakura scoffed. "He's always mean."

Ino let out a little noise of irritation at Sakura's tone. "So what are you trying to say, Sakura?" She asked. "What did you call me for? To tell me that Sasuke's _mean_?"

"I'm saying that we got into a fight!" Sakura snapped back, slamming the bowl of batter onto the counter top with alarming force. "I'm saying that he-! He…-!" Furiously, she searched for the word she was looking for. And then it clicked. "He cared." She finished. As soon as she said it, she knew she was right. "Like, he actually got mad, he showed _emotion_, Ino. Iceblock-Sasuke. That has to prove that he cares at least a little about what he did. You don't get mad over something that's not important to you, right?"

There was only silence on the other end. "Ino?"

"Yeah, I'm here." Ino replied, thoughtfully studying the carpet at her feet.

"…Ino?"

"Sakura?" Ino blinked and pulled the phone away from her ear to scrutinize it, then replaced it to her cheek. "Sakura, can you hear me?"

At the same time Sakura repeated, "Ino?" on the other line.

Ino frowned, '_Obviously not_.' "Sakura, if you can't-" And then the line went dead.

Both girls frowned at their phones. They were land lines, not cellular, so they shouldn't have lost connection. And while Sakura was wondering why Ino had stopped replying, Ino was wondering why Sakura hadn't been able to hear her. And both girls were wondering why the other had hung up.

* * *

Naruto found Sasuke and Kakashi in the middle of 'training' which, at the moment, looked more like war. Fire, lightning, crimson eyes, and hard gray steel raked across the landscape. Twenty meters away, Kakashi and Sasuke were propelling themselves through the air. The clothing on their bodies was rattling and buffeting against their skin like flags in a storm. Sasuke's sword, glittering with the lightning and fire he had trimmed it with, was nearing Kakashi's throat. 

Naruto raised an eyebrow, watching as the flaming piece of electric metal grew nearer and nearer to Kakashi's flesh.

* * *

He was close. He was _so_ close; he could smell Kakashi's blood already, anticipating the feeling of the hot wetness splattering onto his already sweating body. It would be so good – to feel relief, triumph, a release, a silence at last to the raging question in his head: _How was I beaten? How was I beaten? _

And then – "Unh!" Sasuke's position in the air shifted as two hard, ovular shapes pressed brutally into the inner corner of his right shoulde rand another fell ontop of his head. An illusion? Every muscle in his body contracted as his head snapped up – a cruel movement, like a snake that had whipped its head to the ready, preparing to strike.

What he saw made his face crease into an ugly shape. "_Naruto._" He snarled, eyes searing crimson.

His line of vision shot straight up Naruto's black pants, black and orange jacket to the spot where his head had blotted out the sun. The remainder of its blinding light inflamed the wisps of Naruto's blond hair like a strange, spiky halo. Sasuke glared as Naruto grinned down at him, knowing full well what he had just done. "Hey, Teme!"

"Get – _off._" Sasuke hissed, and with a sharp jerk of his body, Naruto toppled. But when Sasuke looked back, Kakashi was already gone. Rage slammed into Sasuke's chest, making him inhale sharply so that it almost hurt. The burst of clear air to his brain reminded him that it wouldn't do to lose control – quite the mistake. Easily he hit the ground and sunk to the balls of his feet and then vanished, only to reappear seconds later on the branch of an oak, his eyes narrowed and calculating as he surveyed the wrecked landscape.

To the south, Naruto was getting up, dusting himself off and muttering something about disrespectful welcomes. But Kakashi was nowhere to be –

Just as he had thought it, so the silver haired man appeared. His lopsided, casual posture was infuriating. Sasuke had almost had him that time and they both knew it. IF only that God damned _Naruto _hadn't…

"Sasuke!" Kakashi called from the ground, looking right at him, finding him effortlessly. "We're done for today. Come down."

Sasuke regarded his newly reinstated sensei coldly, a muscle in his jaw giving the most fractional tick before he consented and begrudgingly got down. He appeared to Naruto's left within an eighth of a second, but the blond boy didn't jump.

"_What _was _that_?" It wasn't a question, it was an accusation.

Naruto shrugged. "Tsunade gave me permission to help your training, didn't she? Well, that was me helping."

Sasuke stared his companion, anger abating from Naruto's casual tone. When the fox-ninja winked at him, Sasuke barely contained his own smirk, managing to stare blankly at Naruto instead. "Idiot." He commented.

Naurot's face soured. "Bastard." He threw back before turning away to look at his sensei . "Kakashi." He started bluntly. "We have to talk. This is really important."

Kakashi stopped halfway through the motion of pulling his most current Icha Icha Paradise out of his back pocket to regard his pupil with one, half lidded eye. Sasuke could see vague curiosity, but his reply was flat. "Naruto, I've told you before: I'm not loaning you this book. If you want to find out with Jiraiya's style is like, you're going to have to buy the series yourself."

Naruto's expression melted to one of mixed horror and wide-eyed mortification. Sasuke watched as the fox-ninja turned bright, bright red. "I-I-I would never want to read some garbage like _that_!" He bellowed, pointing a finger at the book held between Kakashi's nimble fingers.

Kakashi smiled, something his students had learned to recognize through his right eye rather than his mouth. "So you say, Naruto, so you say. But the owner of the bookstore says differently. He has plenty of stories of you and Konohamaru looking in places your eyes weren't welcome in your genin days."

Naruto choked and then turned his sour face into a pout. "Well what do you expect…" he muttered sulkily before clearing his throat to switch topics, still glaring at his teacher. "I talked to Tsunade last night." He said a bit forcedly.

Kakashi inclined his head slightly to show that he was listening as the three men started to walk together towards Konoha. "Did you?"

"Yeah, I did. Right after I dropped Sakura off at her house."

He felt Sasuke look at him from the corner of his peripheral vision, but other than that his dark companion showed no interest in what was being said. To his left, Naruto noticed that Kakashi was also looking at him from the corner of his eye. He had to shake off the disturbing sensation that two mirror images were on either side of him, and he was the one in the middle who didn't belong. Sometimes, he forgot exactly how much Sasuke and Kakashi were alike. "What's the deal with Tsunade not wanting to talk to me about-?"

"Tsk." The small noise from his left was enough to interrupt Naruto's question. On his left, Kakashi was looking up at the sky, Icha Icha Paradise held open in one hand, the other shoved in his back pocket. His good eye was half lidded and disinterested as usual. "What an inconvenience…" his voice seemed to drift lazily over them. "I'm going to be late."

"Late?" Naruto echoed, a scowl rippling across his face. "Late for _what_?"

No sooner had he asked the question than had Kakashi simply disappeared. Naruto stared at the very empty space his teacher was meant to be occupying. For his part, Sasuke glared at it coldly.

Neither the gaping nor the glaring restored Kakashi back into aforementioned space.

Finally, in Naruto's brain, it seemed to click that his teacher had just ditched him. "OI! KAKASHI-SENEI! GET YOUR ASS BACK DOWN HERE! THIS IS IMPORTANT YOU ARROGANT, LAZY – AND YOU'RE ALWAYS LATE, YOU FREAKING-"

"Naruto!"

Sasuke and Naruto turned to see Yamanaka Ino marching toward them, blue eyes glittering, blonde hair shinning in the summer sun. She was seething.

"Hn." Sasuke was beginning to think that it was going to be an annoying day.

"Ino-pig?" Surprise caused Naruto to slip before he could catch himself. Sasuke raised an eyebrow.

Within seconds, Ino was livid and much closer than she should have been considering the basic and widely accepted laws of time and space. "_What_ did you just call me?"

"Er - N-nothing! _Ino_!" Naruto corrected himself, sputtering a bit. "_Ino_ – nothing." He reasserted unnecessarily. Sasuke fought the urge to roll his eyes.

Ino suspiciously regarded his amendment before deciding that it wasn't worth her time. "Where's Sakura?" She asked, impatience radiating from her tone, her posture, her expression…

"Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, frowning slightly.

"Yes, that would be what I said." Ino snapped.

Sasuke critically analyzed the girl in front of Naruto and determined one thing: she was in a worse mood than usual. In light of this, he intended to extract himself from the situation as quickly and discretely as possible. Naruto looked up at the sun, squinting into its light. "Er – she should have started training with Tsunade as of… ten minutes ago?" He took a guess. He prayed that he was right.

Ino cut him a harsh glare where any _normal _person would have offered him a thanks and then turned around to face Sasuke with the brightest of smiles, suddenly all femininity and levity and flirts. "Hi, Sasuke-kun!" She cooed, cutting his escape plans neatly into shreds.

Sasuke fought the urge to take a step back and frown. He was still unsettled by how easily she did that. Was she really an emotional roller coaster? To the extent of being semi-psychopathic? Or was she _that _good at pretending? He didn't know which was preferable. "Yamanaka." He responded as neutrally as possible, but even he could hear the distinct unpleasantness in his voice.

Ino seemed to be the only one not to. Smiling, she gave him another flirtatious laugh. "I'm off to find Sakura now, do you want to come with me, Sasuke-kun?"

"No."

Ino was unfazed. "Alright! Make sure to come and see me later, though!" She said, winking at him and with that she left.

The two boys watched as the blonde girl proceeded to stalk off, seemingly irate again once she removed herself from the three foot radius of the devastatingly handsome Sasuke Uchiha. Naruto scowled after her. "Why do _you_ have to be the one whose so damn good looking, Sasuke?"

A little more than vaguely surprised, Sasuke turned and _looked_ at Naruto, though he made a conscious effort to keep his face perfectly neutral and unreadable. It was an effort.

Naruto scowled at him. "_You_. You don't even use it right!"

At that Sasuke did allow himself an arrogant but also genuine smirk. Naruto was already grinning.

* * *

"_Focus_, Haruno." 

Tsunade threw her pupil back wards, to the ground. Without thought, Sakura rotated her center of gravity in the air, turning an easy flip, and made sure she was ready when she caught the ground. She absorbed the shock and impact and dust into both feet and her fight hand, sliding backwards a couple of feet. While she dragged her right fist along the ground to slow herself, her left palm was stretched wide open, hovering just over the kunai that was fastened loosely at her hip. She tried to focus.

The moment she decided to go at her teacher again, her body very suddenly wasn't her own. She was a passenger inside a vehicle that was now rocketing towards doom – the fifth Hokage. She recognized the sensation before she even registered what it was. But by then her body, which was really _hers_ at the moment, had run full tilt at Tsunade, the kunai that she had meant to use against her was left at her side. She felt her body intentionally leaving a wide opening on her left side. Tsunade moved to take advantage of it, like Sakura knew she would, but she couldn't do anything except anticipate the pain.

Just before the blow landed, everything snapped back into place and her body was her own again. She tried her best to defend the opening before the blow came, but it would come and it was inevitable that it was going to hurt.

CRACK.

Blood rocketed up her throat and into her mouth. Couching, she felt it dribble over her chin and wiped at it with the back of her hand. This time when she hit the ground it hurt, but she grit her teeth and willed herself to stay completely silent. From the feel of it she had bruised a rib and probably damaged something else from the metallic taste of blood in her mouth. Training was over – in a real fight with Tsunade, that would have been her death blow. Without even bothering to heal her wound, Sakura whirled around, searching for the stripe of purple and blonde that she knew she'd find somewhere.

She didn't have to look hard. "What the hell was that for?" She demanded angrily.

Ino was standing right behind her, her hands still formed in the seal for her trademark body-control jutsu. Over the years, she'd become an expert at it – she no longer needed Shikamaru's shadow jutsu to hold her targets in place. As she had just demonstrated on Sakura's unaware body.

"You tell me!" Ino shot back, not missing a beat. "Why the hell did you hang up on me like that? You didn't even call back!"

"_You_ hung up on me!" Sakura half gasped, her tone and the sickening taste of bile both rising in her throat.

"Don't lie to me, Sakura!"

"I'm not-!"

"_Sakura_." The Hokage's voice pierced through the argument like a needle through silk.

Both girls turned around.

Tsunade seemed to be furious. No doubt the fight was still raging through her veins. "You will continue whatever the hell this is about _outside_ of your time with me! And you will do well in the future to keep yourself guarded from _all _sides!"

For a second, Sakura's eyes flashed a shade of green that was much too dark to be natural.

Tsunade stiffened, and her fists clenched hard at her sides for a moment. Then she carefully controlled her breathing, her very pulse so that there was no perceptible irregularity. She hadn't been imagining it – this she was sure of. There had been an actual, physical color change in her student's eyes, if only for an eighth of a second, where Sakura's pale jade eyes flashed to viridian. But Tsunade could give no outward hints of concern or surprise… not yet, because Yamanaka was standing right there. And besides, she didn't know how Sakura was going to react to what she had to ask.

Her visit last night from Uzumaki Naruto had proved that much to her at least.

"Yes, Hokage-sama." Sakura answered evenly, though she could see the rage and feelings of injustice smoldering just behind those pale jade yes which – thank God – were staying the same shade of green.

For now.

She heard the deliberate noise behind her. She couldn't pinpoint exactly what it was, but she knew _who _it was. Kakashi was somewhere directly behind her, or at least, he had been a second ago. By the time she had excused herself from the scene he would be in her office, waiting for her. She let out an irritated sigh. She so hated to be pushed and pulled around by others – her subordinates now, now less. Not that Kakashi was a subordinate; his legend was practically of equal renown as the legendary three sannin. But nevertheless, she was still one of those sannin and sometimes she wished the title came with a bit more fear and respect that it did nowadays, because this was going to be a pain in the ass. But so were all things that were worth talking about.

"Sakura." She stated once more. "I'm going back to the office for the rest of the day. And when you come tomorrow for your studies, bring me a large bottle of Tylenol."

Sakura was torn between exasperation and affection that her teacher was simply going off to get drunk for the rest of the day. Before she could comment though, which Tsunade knew she would try, her master was gone.

With that taken care of, the verbal showdown between herself and Ino began.

* * *

When Sakura walked through her apartment door at five forty-five that evening she was laden with groceries, still furious with Ino, an severely put out in regards to her session with Tsunade. 

She hadn't been making progress lately. Or, at least, she hadn't been making it fast enough. And with team seven all together and Naruto and Sasuke finally both beside her and together again things were just coming together and still ready to fall apart. It was becoming more and more _crucial_ that she be strong enough to keep her promise to them. But she wasn't.

It just wasn't going _fast _enough. _She_ wasn't fast enough. She was torn between wanting to cry and wanting to punch a hole through her wall. Of course she did neither. She hadn't cried for anybody but Naruto and Sasuke in the past year and a half and she certainly wasn't going to break that record to go and cry for _herself_. And she couldn't afford the cover the damages for repairing a hole in the wall so that plan was out too.

So she resorted to being an introvert – her very last effort for containment and safety. She absorbed herself completely in thoughts of the afternoon and Ino. Stupid Ino, who wouldn't admit to being the one who hung up. And stupid, stupid Tsunade for punishing Sakura but not even lifting a finger at Ino. Stupid, old woman was probably drunk out of her mind at the moment, slumped over her desk, slurring words and turning as pink as Sakura's hair. If she wasn't a medic-nin she'd have been glad to casually "forget" her teacher's painkillers the next morning. But knowing Tsunade she would probably just turn it into another opportunity to practice some obscure, hang-over mending jutsu. Not that she'd ever need to do _that_ in her life – heal hangovers that was.

If any ninja was stupid enough to get himself hung over before a battle then she'd be damned if _she_ was healing them.

She'd made her way into the kitchen and was now viciously placing food inside her fridge. The sound of glass clattering against glass and the rough way she pushed in the **crisp!** drawers in and out only served to irritate her more. When she finished and headed into the living room, she nearly hit the ceiling when a hand materialized over the back of her couch and waved at her. "Heeey, Sakura." The hand said casually, in a voice that she very much recognized.

"KYAAA!" It still scared the hell out of her.

Her sudden scream was enough to send both Naruto and Sasuke out of their skin. The two boys nearly fell out of the couch, the movie they had been watching flickered. Sasuke stood, alerted and ready, hand already reaching for the sword he had propped up against the couch arm. Naruto on the other hand, was not so graceful.

_Thump!_ He actually managed to fall off the couch. "Jeez, Sakura!" he cursed and got up quickly. "Don't just go screaming like that!"

"NARUTO!" Sakura screamed. "Why the _hell_ are you in my _house_!?!"

"…Because… you _asked _me to?" Naruto said, confused and slightly offended. Sakura had never had a problem with him being in her house before. Well sure she'd had some _slight_ problems, like when he tried dropping by when she was in the shower, but if he didn't know any better, he would have thought that she was actually _seriously_ angry with him right now.

"Who let you in?" Sakura demanded, advancing towards him as a sudden and violent fury throbbed against her brain. She had heard Naruto's words, but somehow she hadn't managed to register them.

"I let _myself_ in." Naruto said.

"_How_!"

"…The way I always do?"

"_How_!" She repeated again, her voice rising, her blood and pulse roared in her ears. A part of her knew she was being illogical. She was missing something. Something was _wrong_. She knew Naruto had come into her house before, without a key and without picking a lock… but… she couldn't seem to thin of how he had done it. And for some reason it seemed to make her temper worse. _Why _couldn't she remember? What was wrong with her head?

"I climbed up the wall into the window.' Naruto exclaimed, frowning deeply as he faced her ire.

"You've never done that before!" Sakura snapped. Something in the corner of her mind knew that she was wrong as soon as the words left her mouth. Her frown turned to one of slight confusion, but she was too mad to care. Too furious to be able to focus.

"Yes, I have!" Naruto countered, now he was angry too and highly exasperated. He didn't like this. It felt wrong. "I do it all the time, Sakura."

In front of him Sakura frowned, thinking, struggling with something. Her head started to swim, and a hot sweat broke over her skin. Sasuke, who had been looking back and forth between the two of them – much like an observer of a verbal tennis match – narrowed his eyes fractionally. "W-well why would you have to come here in the first place you mor- you m…" she focused hard and finally got out the word she'd been trying to push off her tongue. "You moron!"

Naruto looked genuinely taken aback, angry, and offended. "Too stay with Sasuke. _You _told me I had to come and watch Sasuke for you."

The Uchiha scowled at the idea that he had be watched, but it went by unnoticed.

"_Why would you have to come back here in the first place!_" Sakura repeated, now wave after wave of hot, untamable anger was throbbing through her.

"I just told you that." Naruto shouted, his voice rising steadily. "Too look after _Sasuke_!" And then came the next question, the one he really anted an answer for: "Why are you so _damn angry _at me?!"

Sakura was furious, she was _furious_. But the angrier she got, the more unsteady the world around her seemed to grow. Naruto noticed at last, now that he wasn't trying to defend himself, that something actually _was_ very wrong. Sakura's jade eyes came into and out of focus as she tried to look at him. If he hadn't known any better he could have sworn he saw a different color flash through them for only a moment. Her hand fell to the back of the couch and gripped it so hard that her fingertips turned red. "I…" She struggled, still angry, still _furious_ and she didn't know why. But she knew that it wasn't right. It wasn't _right_ for her to be acting this way, especially towards Naruto. Had she asked him to come in…? Had she? In the last moment she looked up at Naruto and he saw remorse in her beautiful pale jade eyes. "I'm sorry." She managed breathlessly, and then she collapsed.

_While anger can sometimes lead people to do shocking things, it can also e an instinct to show people that something isn't right… _- (this quote was found on on August 3, 2007, 11:45 a.m.)

* * *

**A/N**: Ok that was HUGELY a pain in the butt. I had this chapter all typed up and save but for some reason seemed to like, dislike the content. No matter what i did - uploaded under different names, pasted into different word documents, pasted into and edit page of a previously uploaded document - it just didn't want to upload this until i physically re-typed the entire thing into a new word document and saved it and THEN tried to upload it. 

Becuase i retyped it by hand there may be a few typos. if this is the case then I'm really really sorry but I couldn't bear to reread it again. Maybe i will in a few months or something. But for now, apologies if you find typos. I promise they weren't there in the original chapter.

Also, I'm getting a little concerned that I'm starting to drift out of character. I know that right now the story isn't very focused on Sakura and Sasuke but, it will be in following chapters - I'm still getting everything set up. But in the mean time let me know if I'm getting too out of character please, with anybody. (This of course isn't including Sakura's freakish displays of anger. I know thats out of character achem well mostly anyway... and it is to be explained as the story continues).

Alright! End of a freakishly long AN. Reviews?

P.S. - has been roughly edited. claim about typos still stands. and i promise there will be more angsty/fluffy sasu/saku in the next chap. Laters!


	9. かわいらしいです

**A/N**: Hiiii guys. sigh im exhausted. do you realize how much easier it is to write SasuSaku in oneshots versus in like an actual story where they have to have slow development? It's awful. :P haha oh well. Chapter nine, here it is.

**Disclaimer**: I dont own Naruto. If i did, there would be tons of SasuSaku dripping off the show. It would be gross. :)

NOTE! I'm so sorry for everybody who got like 4 emails saying that this chapter was uploaded. I've edited it again. Typos and such were driving me mad. sorry sorry sorry. nothing new content wise, just grammar and such. please forgive.

* * *

"I heard you had a visit from Naruto." 

No greeting, no light starter conversation. Just straight business from the moment she walked in the door. Let no one say that Hatake Kakashi was a man who wasted his time. Though she'd heard rumors that he was usually hours late, so she probably _could_ accuse him of hypocrisy.

Tsunade walked right past the silver-haired man who was sitting with his back to the door – and in effect, to her as well – and opened up her cabinet. It took her only a moment to find what she was looking for. The tiny cup and smooth white bottle had her feeling a little more content with life already. "What of it?" Tsunade asked over her shoulder, walking around Kakashi and sitting down at her desk, which he was already facing. As she set down the bottle and glass, she gave him a sharp look.

Kakashi had flipped around chair so that its back was facing her and made himself comfortable in it, looking practically as if he'd been born and raised sitting in it, though she knew she hadn't invited him to sit down. With a sigh, she took her own chair and rested her chin casually in her palm. "I suppose this is important," she said, feigning boredom. "Whatever you have to say."

Kakashi was silent, but his expression told her that she'd guessed right.

"We already talked about Sakura." Tsunade guessed again.

"I think the situation's getting worse." Kakashi replied.

"Worse?" The Hokage grimly poured herself a shot and downed it as easily as if it were water. Kakashi raised his eyebrows fractionally, but managed to keep himself from saying anything. He tried to remind himself that over the years Tsunade had built up an alcohol tolerance that was usually reserved for middle aged sailors and fishermen.

"What the hell does that mean?"

And she had a vocabulary to match.

"Hmmm, how do I say this?" Kakashi linked his arms around the back of his chair, and tilted his head, smiling. "It takes a quite bad situation for Naruto to notice trouble."

"It's my understanding that Naruto has known Sakura since childhood." Tsunade countered. "It's natural that he would notice abnormalities in her behavior."

"What did you tell him?"

"Nothing." Tsunade poured herself another shot. "I refused to tell him anything."

Kakashi got very quiet. "Did he tell you anything?"

"No." Tsunade scowled. "What could he have told me?"

"Well, seeing as how he came in to find you, he probably noticed something. Or is it routine for him to barge into your office and interrogate you about Sakura's wellbeing?"

A muscle in Tsunade's jaw leapt. "You think I should have told him what I told you yesterday?" Tsunade asked, eyes narrowed as she recalled the talk that Kakashi and she had had the day before, after Sakura had broken her arm and they'd seen her temper flare for the first time. "Understand, Kakashi, that you and I are adults. While Naruto, and even Sakura to some extent, are still children." Her voice was rising.

Kakashi looked at the Hokage, and she stared back at him, trying to hold his gaze, before she downed another shot. A trail of fire slid down her chest and relaxed her slightly.

"I wouldn't underestimate either of my teammates in terms of their maturity." Kakashi finally said. "Naruto may seem brazen and reckless, but he's got the capability to be quite tactful. Especially when the matter is close to his heart."

"What we have to say about Sakura would only upset him." Tsunade said. "I don't intend to tell him anything until it's absolutely necessary."

"What if it does become necessary?" Kakashi said very suddenly. "What will you do if Sakura can't control it?" A different tactic.

Tsunade's face turned sour, her eyes narrowing. "I don't intend to put Sakura in a position where she ever _has_ to control, or be exposed to what's inside of her." A thick silence congealed in the air between them. She could feel disapproval radiating off of the man in front of her like heat. "I do have a _plan _Kakashi." Tsunade glowered. "I'm not just ignoring this. If things go accordingly then Sakura's power should remain dormant. She never even has to be aware that it exists."

"Of course." Kakashi said. "The problem being of course that it's _not_ 'remaining dormant'." Kakashi's tone was sharper than she liked it to be. _She _was the Hokage after all. And it wasn't like she'd really signed up for the job. If she recalled correctly, she'd been tracked down to do this crap. "And you can't keep her from being exposed to something that's already _inside_ her." Kakashi added. Tsunade was taken aback before she was angry. She started to pour herself another drink on reflex. "Naruto could be helpful to us." Kakashi continued, "Especially since he's been dealing with containing the kyuubi's chakra since infancy."

Tsunade dropped her cup on the table firmly, reminding Kakashi that he was still her subordinate. _She_ would formulate plans and allow them to come into formulation. "What do you think he'll do once he realizes what must be done? Naruto isn't the type to keep secrets. His emotions _always_ cloud his judgment. If I thought he was capable of some sort of discretion-"

"Let me talk to him."

Tsunade blinked. "What?"

"Let me talk to Naruto." Kakashi repeated. "I'll make sure he knows enough to be helpful. And I'll make sure he's covert."

Tsunade stared hard at Kakashi. This time, she took a sip directly from the bottle. She knew that Naruto would never be able to keep a secret, especially from Sakura, if his life depended on it. But she supposed that if he only knew enough to be helpful, he would be less inclined to tell Sakura anything – almost wouldn't be able to tell her anything. The more people Tsunade had on to work with on her side the easier the whole thing would be. And besides, maybe Naruto could keep it a secret if _Sakura's _life depended on it. Tsunade grimaced. It was oh-so tempting. The Fifth swallowed a long sip of sake. She couldn't believe she as about to do this. "Ok." She cringed, and immediately returned the bottle to her mouth, hoping that the burning trail that slid down to her stomach would sooth the uncomfortable knotting sensation that had kicked into her gut. She had to be a huge idiot. Huge.

Kakashi nodded and pushed the chair forward, flipping it back around to its proper position, and stood.

"Under _no _circumstances are you to tell Uchiha Sasuke about Sakura's condition." Tsunade added suddenly.

Kakashi nodded.

"And don't tell Sakura."

Another noncommittal nod.

Tsunade ground her teeth together. She took another long swig from the bottle to cool her temper, and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand. "We're already putting the plan in motion - I mean the one I talked to you about yesterday." She said. Kakashi moved to exit the room. "I've already enlisted Kurenai to help."

To her right, Kakashi opened the window that he used to come and go. She didn't know why the hell he always did that. It was as if using the door like a _normal_ human being was somehow beneath him. Tsunade opened her mouth to say one last thing to him, but her lips betrayed her and found the rim of her bottle instead. The sound of shifting weight caught her ear and she wondered vaguely if he was trying to escape before she got too drunk. Everyone said she was frightening when she'd had too much to drink… bullshit. She took a long swallow, and then anther, and another before she put the bottle on the table and stared at the lacquered desk before her. When she finally spoke, her voice was filled with a quiet hesitation and uncertainty that she had allowed so few people in her life to hear. "You've been very quiet during this visit, Kakashi. I wonder what that means. Do you think…" she hesitated. "Do you think I'm handling this correctly?"

Silence was the answer to her question. When Tsunade looked up, her window had been left open, and Hatake Kakashi was already gone.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Sasuke could have gotten there before Naruto. Both young men instinctively moved towards Sakura's collapsing form. But Sasuke, with his ever observant eyes, noticed that Naruto was already going to prevent her from coming to harm, and stilled himself. A part of him felt an inexplicable little jerk as he watched Sakura's limp figure fill in the hollows of Naruto's open arms. The blond boy went to his knees to cushion his teammate's fall.

The noise of electricity cutting off made Sasuke turn around. Somehow the TV had been cut – what had been a screen teeming with colorful jumbles of action a few seconds ago, was now just a cool, black plane of glass. He caught his own reflection. The plain black T-shirt and khaki shorts were strangely unfit on him. But he'd had to scrounge around for things to wear until he got something of his own again, and this had been the only thing he could come up with after the morning's 'training' with Kakashi. They made him look like a civilian, except for the bandages that ran along his arm and the sheathed sword he held in his hand.

"Sakura?" Naruto's voice drew Sasuke's attention away his reflection. "Sakura-chan?" He watched as Naruto moved aside the curtain of Sakura's strawberry colored hair to look at her face. Just like last time, she appeared completely serene and untroubled, showing no signs of the distress she had experienced during consciousness. At the sound of Naruto's voice, she stirred, moaning slightly and moving her head to the side, her lips parting.

Finally Naruto scooped the kunoichi into his arms and carried her to the couch, laying her down gently on the wrinkled sheets and pillows. Sasuke watched as Naruto brooded over the unconscious girl that lay between them. After a moment, Naruto looked up at him. "What just happened?"

Sasuke met Naruto's blue gaze steadily, his expression cool. He said nothing. Naruto scowled and opened his mouth, but was cut off by a soft moan. Their staring match broken, both looked down to see Sakura's eyes flutter open.

The sight of Naruto sitting to her right and Sasuke standing over her to her left seemed to jolt her into alertness. She sat up quickly, propping herself on her elbows and then sinking back again as the blood drained out of her face. "What happened?" She groaned, forcing herself up all the way, slowly this time.

"You passed out." Sasuke said before Naruto could do anything but open his mouth. "Again."

"Again?" Naruto looked back and forth between Sasuke and Sakura, not sure which to interrogate. "What does he mean '_again_'?"

Sakura put her hand to her head, as if fighting off a migraine. "Nothing. It's nothing, Naruto. I'm just… tired." She hesitated and then smiled weakly. "And I haven't been feeling well lately."

A lie.

Sasuke narrowed his eyes as Sakura tried to smile for Naruto. Beneath all the sweetness and strength she was offering, Sasuke saw the edges of worry in Sakura's pretty green eyes. Last time she'd been able to brush it off as fluke, a one-time thing. But now, she wouldn't be so easily convincing Naruto or him into believing it. Sasuke didn't think that she looked so sure either.

"I'm not leaving tonight." Naruto announced suddenly, making both Sakura and Sasuke look very suddenly up at him.

"What?"

"Why?"

"I'm staying to look after you."

This time it was Sakura's turn to scowl. "Naruto, don't be an idiot. I'm fine! Besides, I thought you had a date with Hinata tonight."

"I do. I'll have her come over here."

Sasuke resisted the urge to bang his head against the closet wall. Or better yet, make that Naruto's head. He would bang _Naruto's _head against the wall. The last thing he wanted was company, and _especially _not the company of Naruto's stuttering, so-sweet-you-could-get-a-cavity-by-just-looking-at-her girlfriend.

"Naruto, don't be ridiculous-"

But Naruto was already exiting the room. "Where's your phone?" He asked after spotting the empty cradle. He headed towards kitchen to look.

Sakura watched him leave until he was out of sight, and then looked at Sasuke. He met her gaze, ready for a fight. But saw something else that he could recognize in her pale jade eyes without words – a silent plea. '_Please don't say anything'. _She was worried. But she didn't want Naruto to worry. How stupid of her. He returned her gaze, and realized that because she had asked him to, he wouldn't say anything. For now.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

Half an hour later, Hinata arrived, complete with her cheeks the color of apples and her fingers nervously pushing together. "H-hi S…Sakura-ch-chan… S…Sasuke-kun." To Sasuke, it felt like he'd needed to wait for five whole minutes while she tried to work her way around his name.

They decided to order out. Naturally, Naruto wanted ramen. Naturally, Sakura said she would 'rather die than eat that garbage two nights in a row' and after wrestling the phone from him, and pinning her teammate's arm behind his back, she placed an order for sushi. Fifteen minutes of pouting, badgering and whining later, Naruto placed a separate order for ramen. Ten minutes afterwards, the doorbell rang.

Sakura frowned. Even for a ninja society waiting only 10 minutes for a ramen or sushi delivery to arrive was unheard off. Puzzled, Naruto got up saying something along the lines of 'well, who cares as long as it's _here_' and opened the door.

From his position on the floor Sasuke narrowed his eyes as Naruto grew very still. When the blond finally turned around, he was grinning so hard that Sasuke wouldn't have been surprised if his face were about to break in two. "Hey, Sakura! Look whose here!" He opened the door wider and stepped to the side dramatically.

Sakura, who had been sitting on the couch with Hinata, picking out movies, turned her head and looked at the door. She had showered since her blackout, and changed into baggy gray sweatpants and a red camisole. Her damp hair had been pulled back into a short pony-tail, her bangs side swept and pinned to the left side of her face with bobby pins. She smelled like orchids.

Sasuke stiffened fractionally as Kakashi walked through door, waving a pleasant hello to Sakura, his lopsided posture suggested, as always, that he was perfectly at ease. Sasuke's hand made a fractional movement towards his sword lying before him, but to both it and Sasuke, Kakashi seemed to remain oblivious. "Look who I ran into." Their sensei said, angling his body back towards the door frame that Naruto was still holding open.

Sasuke noticed, for the first time, a dark haired, young man standing behind Kakashi, just outside the doorway. He looked to be Sasuke's age, maybe a little older, and on his face was the most deliberately pleasant, clam expression Sasuke had ever seen. Sasuke recognized him. Any lack of emotion on the newcomer's part was made up for in full by the grin that cracked across Sakura's pretty face. "Sai!" In seconds she was at the door, throwing her arms around Sai's neck. "You're back!"

Sakura had to push herself up onto her tiptoes so she could reach the Sai's neck. She hugged him tightly while Sasuke watched. So this was the young man who was supposed to have replaced him, apparently in more than one respect, in Team Kakashi. After a second of sizing him up, Sasuke decided that he didn't like him.

Suddenly, he recognized the all too familiar sensation of being watched. Breaking his gaze away from the reunion before him, Sasuke turned to find Hyuuga Hinata staring curiously at him, intent as a child who had just seen something for the first time. She, like everybody else, had changed since he had last seen her. Her hair was longer, bluer, and her face had turned a bit prettier. But she was still painfully shy. Not that he cared about any differences in her. The only Hyuuga Sasuke even remotely acknowledged was Neji, and that was because he had been the only other genius-prodigy in their class at the academy. One icy black glare had said other prodigy's cousin looking away quickly, her opaque eyes downcast. Sasuke reaped only small satisfaction from it though, because the moment he looked back, he was confronted by the sight of his house-mate tightening her embrace on their guest before she finally stepped back. The boy hadn't ever returned Sakura's hug, but he smiled faintly at her when she released him.

Yes, Sai was definitely an irritant.

"When did you get in?" Sakura asked, starting into the living room and motioning them to follow. Kakashi and Sai removed their shoes by Hinata's and Naruto's and started into the apartment. Naruto closed the door behind them, still grinning like a complete moron. Sasuke watched carefully as Sai moved between Naruto and Sakura, his body angles were all open, all trust.

"Just this evening" Sai replied evenly, that ever so pleasant smile still frozen on his face. Everything about this boy was measured and deliberate. In Sasuke's opinion, that gave cause for wondering about ulterior motives. But no one else seemed to hold that suspicion.

Sasuke watched as Naruto and Sakura accepted Sai, asked him questions about his mission, expressed concern about him, and for the moment, seemed to forget that Sasuke was there entirely. If he'd wanted to, he could probably have escaped through the window, except that Kakashi was in the room with them. But where exactly was he planning to go anyway?

Sasuke turned his attention back on the group. Watching them was like watching a scene in the cinema – and just like any audience member, Sasuke was not a part of what he saw. He didn't belong here.

Finally, Sakura blinked and seemed to notice him in his corner, brooding. She smiled at him and Sasuke realized that for a moment, she actually _had_ forgotten about him.

Back when they were genin, something like that would never have happened between them. She would have been fawning over him every millisecond of every minute of every hour of every single freaking day. And, he reminded himself, it would have been _so_ – fucking – annoying.

Yet, somehow the fact that she had forgotten him just now was a little annoying too. Everything about her annoyed him.

"Sai, you haven't really been properly introduced to Sasuke have you?" Sakura asked, turning on a very doe-eyed expression that said to Sasuke '_Please cooperate_'.

Across the room, Sasuke gave Sakura a 'look', which wasn't unlike a resentful glower. It replied: '_Over my dead body_'. He had fought Sai plenty of times. Fought him to kill. And while perhaps that wasn't the most formal of introductions, it was enough of an experience to make two people more than familiar with one another. Regardless of this, Sai turned around and smiled that infuriating smile at Sasuke and raised a hand in friendly greeting. "Hello, Sasuke-kun. I am Sai."

The corner of Sasuke's mouth turned down fractionally. "Charmed." He replied.

"Sai, Kakashi, do you want to join us for dinner?" Sakura offered brightly, deliberately pushing off Sasuke's cold greeting with a happy face as she cleared off her space on the couch for the Sai. The dark haired boy took his queue to sit down beside Hinata, whom Naruto now sat behind, balanced on the back of the couch. His left hand had fallen on the curve of Hinata's shoulder, his thumb absently moving over the hollow of her neck, while his right hand braced on his calf as he leaned forward.

Sasuke watched as Hinata smiled at her boyfriend's touch and turned a little pink. The Uchiha raised an eyebrow. You would have thought that she'd gotten used to it by now. I mean, really.

Sakura looked around, and realized that every seat was now occupied. Kakashi stood on the other side of the couch, facing Sasuke, while Naruto, Sai and Hinata had taken up the couch. That left only the coffee table as a surface for her to sit on. Finding a more appropriate seat, she walked over and sat down next to Sasuke as if it were something she did every day. "Want me to re-wrap your bandages?" She looked up to the couch. "Sai, can I borrow a kunai?" The dark haired boy tossed it to her and she caught it through the loop with her index finger without so much as flinching. Gingerly, she placed it on the floor beside her.

Sasuke considered her for a moment before holding out his right arm. Exhaling, he leaned his head back against the wall as she started the process of unwrapping and then re-wrapping his right arm, from its elbow to the back of his knuckles. There were no injuries there, but fighting with a sword put strain on his forearms, hands and wrists. What Sasuke had learned to do in order to support his sword hand, Sakura could do – he had to admit - better with her medical ease and know-how, though at first it had irked him to admit it.

The pink haired kunoichi pulled her knees up and laid Sasuke's right arm across them, starting to unravel the bandages. Sasuke closed his eyes and let her, and then felt Hyuuga Hinata staring at him. Again.

_What. The. Hell_

Sasuke opened his eyes and took his head off the wall to glare at her. When he'd finally opened his mouth to say something, she seemed to realize that she had been caught again and looked away without prompting. It wasn't even as if she had been staring at him discretely. Had she expected him not to notice? One would have thought that being raised as the successor to the Hyuuga Clan would have taught her some reserve, or at least some kind of tact. But apparently not.

"_Oi, oi_! Sai, did you get us anything from the Mist? Huh? Didya? _Didya_?"

Then again, Naruto wasn't that much different.

"Tsk. Naruto, don't be so annoying!" Sakura scolded from her seat. Her warm, soft hands firmly did their work unraveling Sasuke's arm, fingers smoothing over his skin methodically as she released him from bondage. Sasuke looked at her when she stopped, but she had only paused to glare at the blond fox-ninja. "He's just gotten back and already you're bugging him about presents? You're so selfish."

Naruto grinned. "Yeah, but who cares about selfish as long as you end up with presents at the end of the day, neh, Sakura?" He winked, and Sakura smiled before she could stop herself.

"So you agree!" He crowed.

"Oh, shut up, Naruto!" Sakura's nose crinkled and she bent her head back down to work on Sasuke's arm.

With that, Naruto continued pestering Sai about presents, even after the other boy had revealed that buying something for his friends had admittedly never even crossed his mind. But Naruto wasn't giving up that easily.

"C'mon, Sai! You must have gotten _something_. I thought we were your friends!"

"Naruto! Quit it!" Sakura snapped.

"Really, Naruto, Sakura, I am sorry. I didn't realize-"

"Pfft. Didn't realize – I bet. Who'd have thought that Sai would turn out to be such a cheapska-?"

"Dobe, you're getting annoying."

"I have an idea."

Everybody shut up and looked at Kakashi, except for Hinata, who hadn't been participating in the bicker in the first place.

"Why don't we have dinner? We'll invite everybody. It'll be nice to catch up with old friends. Besides, it means more food."

The room stared.

"… It was just an idea."

"Kakashi-sensei that's one of the best ideas you've ever had!" Naruto grinned.

Kakashi's eye fell to half lidded. "I'd like to think that I've had better-"

"I'll call!" Naruto declared, and left Hinata to fend for herself on the couch.

oOoOoOoOoOoOo

A few minutes later, Rock Lee arrived. Not bothering with the doorbell or the formalities of knocking, the green beastling simply barged into the room, throwing the door wide open so that cool summer air whirled around him. "Greetings!" He shouted, eyes sparkling with the vigor of the springtime of youth! "I have come to dine!"

"Hey, Furry Brows."

"Hello, Naruto-kun." He paused and his eyes swept around the room. Eventually they fell upon Sakura, who had looked up from her work, a pile of loose bandage looped around her and Sasuke. She was half-way through re-bandaging it. "Hello, my lovely Sakura-chaaan!"

A slightly pained expression flit across Sakura's face. "Hi, Lee."

Grinning, Lee burst into the room to reveal that Neji and Tenten had been standing behind him the whole time. Beyond them, Kiba and Shino were also standing, waiting to be let inside. Sakura frowned slightly, worried that her apartment simply wasn't big enough to hold all these people.

After the five arrived, they were soon followed by Asuma's team. Sakura stiffened when she saw Ino walk through the door. Likewise, the blonde kunoichi saw Sakura on the other side of the room and tensed for a moment. It was barely perceptible, but Sakura saw it. A muscle in her jaw ticked, and she returned to Sasuke's arm for a distraction.

But a better one walked through the door in the form of Yuhi Kurenai. "Sensei!?" Kiba practically yelped. Immediately he, Shino, and Hinata seemed a bit tenser.

Kurenai smiled and told Kiba to relax, which the dog-ninja did reluctantly. People were forming a big ring around the room now, sitting and talking. It was starting to get crowded. Far too crowded for Sasuke's taste.

"I don't think Naruto invited anybody else." Sakura said quietly to him. Sasuke turned to look at her. She smiled at him as she folded the width of the bandages in half and wound it through the gaps in his fingers – the final step. Soon she would be finished. "Look at yourself." She gave him a smile that was very, very real. "You look so uncomfortable, it's almost cute."

Silence.

Sasuke blinked. At seeing his expression, Sakura fought off the pink that was trying to break across her cheeks. Ok, had she just said cute? Had she just used the word _cute _to describe something about Sasuke Uchiha?

"It's almost _what_?" Apparently he was also taken aback.

Well, there was no turning back now. "I said it's almost 'cute'." She tried to play it off as casual, but Sasuke was still staring at her with the intensity of a thousand black suns. It was as if she'd compared him to a kitten. The image of Sasuke and holding a little ball of fur shot across her mind, and soon she was fighting off laughter instead of a blush. Breaking eye contact, because she knew that if she didn't she would cave, she plucked the borrowed kunai from beside her and placed the end of the bandage in her teeth, pulling it tight. Raising the pear-knife and steadying its edge against her thumb, she neatly sliced through the bandages, using tape and folds to secure the ends. "There, you're done." She said, removing the cloth from her mouth and running her hand once over her work, as if to give it one last check.

"Thank you."

"What?" Sakura was so surprised that she stopped halfway through her stand. Sasuke only stared at her. He wasn't going to say it twice. Sakura stared back at him for a moment, and then grinned.

"You're welcome." She said a bit too loudly. Hinata's gaze flicked over to them once more and then away again. Sasuke nearly growled.

The doorbell rang, and Sakura made her way over. When she opened it, the smell of salty food and rice and fish formed a solid wall that practically knocked the entire room over. They had called to quadruple the size of their order, which had delayed its arrival, but now that it was here the entire room seemed to focus on it intently.

"Thank you." Sakura gave the man his money and then revealed the multiple bags that had been left on the floor. "Someone want to help me carry these in?"

She felt a bead of sweat run down her face as the room collectively stampeded to food.

* * *

**A/N**: feedback would be so nice. Please? 

_If the person you are talking to doesn't appear to be listening, be patient. It may simply be that he has a small piece of fluff in his ear. _ Winnie the Pooh. (It is relevant to this chapter. I swear).

(Continued A/N: aaaah, haha. sorry, sorry guys. i found a hole in the plot and had to pull it down not a minute after it was posted for editing. but this time its going up for real, i swear).


	10. Fists

**A/N: **Oh dear. This took far too long to not write.

**Disclaimer**: I'm tempted to disclaim this entire chapter its so filler and silly. But i won't. I guess I'll just keep it. But I don't own Naruto.

* * *

Somehow it had come down to poker.

Sakura wasn't all too sure _how_ it had come down to poker, but it had. She shouldn't have been surprised. As soon as Chouji had pulled out the liquor she should have known that it was all over for decency.

After a few drinks, Kiba challenged Naruto to a hand of poker. And then another. And then another. By the fourth hand, Shino, Chouji and Tenten of all people had joined in or been forced to join in (Chouji later dropped out in favor of eating chips on the couch and pouring out his liquor to those playing).

Even_she_ had been looped into it. It had started with some innocent "_Hey, Sakura, c'mon and join us_"s and some harmless "_You_sure_ you don't__wanna play?_"s. And then someone, she wasn't really sure who anymore, but _someone_had let loose a "_Doesn't matter anyway. She's a girl - can't play for shit_".

Sakura vaguely remembered her fist connecting with that certain someone's head and taking his hand away from him to play the rest of the game.

It had been an awful set of cards, and she had lost badly.

Further comments on how girls couldn't play to save their lives had Ino joining in, irate. But of course, once Shikamaru decided to participate the whole thing it was over for everybody. After raking away their money six times in a row, the others forced the lazy genius to sit out every other hand. But somehow he was still beating the shit out of all of them.

At some point, Kiba didn't have anymore money to lay down. After a string of half muttered swear words and an apologetic glance to Kurenai, who wasn't paying attention anyway, he pulled his shirt over his head – his jacket had long since been discarded to fight off the heat of both the crowded room and the sake he was downing – and threw it into the kitty.

Naruto looked at the wife-beater that lay rumpled up and wrinkled in the center of the circle and grinned. "Now _that_" He declared, "is a _great_ idea. Hey, Hinata! Wanna join? It's _strip poker_ now."

As to be expected, Hinata promptly turned traffic light red and mumbled something completely incoherent at break-neck speed. Naruto laughed, oblivious to the actual degree of her embarrassment, and pulled her over to sit beside him. His arm looped loosely around her shoulders. "I'm kidding." He amended and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. She was too red to go any other color but purple, but somehow she found the strength to maintain her crimson complexion.

"Naruto, you're so mean." Sakura said, tipping some more alcohol into her system and picking up some cards. She studied them before discarding the ones she didn't want. "Stop embarrassing her."

"Pfffft, Sakura-chan." Naruto laughed. "_I'm_mean?_You've_ got to be one of the meanest, scariest, most-ill-tempered girls I've ever… I've… ever…"

The demonic aura gushed from every pore in Sakura's skin. Naruto wasn't the only one who felt it; people sitting beside her discretely, albeit nervously, tilted themselves away from Sakura and the I'm-ready-to-pound- your-eyelashes-out-aura that she was radiating. Naruto looked for an escape, and was surprised, but grateful, to find that it was offered by Chouji in the form of a bottle. He drank deeply to cover his mistake, and when he handed it back, he made a mental note to avoid looking Sakura in the eyes for a little while.

A collective groan heaved its way around the circle as Shikamaru laid down a royal flush and pulled the money – and Kiba's shirt – towards him. Picking the dirty wife-beater out of the cash, he regarded it with the same bored distain he regarded everything. "I don't want this." He said, extending the shirt back to Kiba who grunted.

"Take it. Got nothing else to bet with."

Shikamaru rolled his eyes and chucked the shirt over his shoulder, muttering "troublesome" under his breath.

"Don't complain, idiot." Ino quipped from across the circle. Shikamaru raised an eyebrow at her. "You're robbing us all blind."

Smug amusement pulled at the corner of Shikamaru's mouth. "Robbing isn't the word, Ino." He replied evenly. "'_Winning_' is the one you're looking for. I'm _winning_ all your money. There's a difference."

A few laughs rumbled from the circle. Despite the scowl on Ino's pretty face, Sakura thought she saw the edges of a smile there too.

"Alright, it's time to get fresh blood." Kiba declared, leaning back onto Akamaru, who had sprawled out behind him. The dog cracked his eyes open and grunted at finding himself being forced to play cushion for his less than sober master. "Unless you all want me to bet my pants in the next hand." The over-sized mongrel whined and Kiba grinned in response. "Sounds like Akamaru doesn't."

Naruto made a face. "Who does?" Quickly, he scanned the room.

Sasuke was glaring daggers at him from where he stood leaning on the wall, his hands jammed into his pockets. Kakashi, Kurenai and Neji were outside on the porch, talking about something that he was sure wouldn't interest him. And that left only one open possibility. "Hey, Sai! Do you know how to play poker?"

Sai, who had been sitting on the couch listening to the conversation on the porch, turned around and looked at the circle of poker players. "No."

Naruto grinned. "Get over here and bring your money."

Sai, looking more than a little confused, obediently complied, getting up from the couch with money in hand. Sakura could tell just from the curious way he looked at them that he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

She almost felt sorry for him.

Tenten won the next hand, bust lost half of what she had gained to Shikamaru in the next. Then Kiba won some money, which he eagerly went all in with in the next round. Unfortunately, Shikamaru was allowed to play and the dog-ninja had to resort to betting his jacket in the hand after. Sakura won three hands and Shino won two, though Kiba argued that they had been debatable victories after he found a flea on Akamaru's collar. And then something awful happened.

Lee decided to join in.

"Oh, Lee." Tenten started nervously when he sat down in the circle. "Maybe you shouldn'-"

"Tenten!" He said, holding out a palm to stop her. "This is my Spring Time of Youth!"

Tenten looked exasperated at the lack of legitimate explanation. "But-"

"My cards!" The beastling demanded, holding out his hand in a dramatic flourish. Shikamaru wordlessly ignored the open palm and chucked a card his way. It slid across the floor with perfect aim, glancing off of Lee's leg weights.

The boys were just happy to have someone with money. If Lee was a bad at poker player then hopefully the new cash would circulate to _someone_who could use it If he was good – which was highly doubtful – well then at least_someone_would knock Shikamaru off of his high horse. Shikamaru himself was indifferent because he knew that Lee of all people was not a threat. If anything it was Sakura and Ino that he had to look out for. Sakura because she was actually smart enough to know how to strategize – too bad the emotions on her face served as a mirror to show him all her cards – and Ino because… well, if he took too much more of her money she _would_kill him.

And that would be really troublesome.

Tenten was busy studying her cards, so she didn't catch it in time, and Chouji – they later established – just didn't know any better. Neji was still talking with Kurenai and Kakashi, and by the time Tenten looked up again it had already happened. Shikamaru threw down his cards and won the game, _again_, and was in the middle of pulling the money in when it was all smacked without warning into his face.

"Hey!" The lazy genius spat out a corner of a bill that had come between his lips and looked up, running his fingers through his hair in irritation only to come face to face with a rather pink-cheeked Lee.

Tenten's eyes widened. "Oh!" Quickly recognizing his expression, her sharp gaze pinned into Chouji, who was sitting outside of the circle on the couch, a bottle of liquor in his hands.

"Chouji! What did you _do_?!"

Neji turned at the sound of Tenten's distressed voice. When he saw her staring in horror at the bottle Chouji held in his hands, his silvery gaze immediately locked on Lee. His eyebrow ticked in irritation, his jaw tightened. '_Someone'_ – namely Chouji – '_is an idiot_'.

Chouji looked up at Tenten, the intensity of her gaze confusing him. "What?" he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Did you give that to Lee!" Tenten demanded, pointing accusingly toward the bottle.

Said idiot looked down at the bottle and then back up at Tenten, confused and a little affronted. "Yeah. I did." He said defiantly. "You his mother or something?"

Tenten's palm smacked against her forehead as she closed her eyes. "Ok." She took a very deep breath. "Ok… Ok. I'd… I'd better get him out of here before he -"

"N-nonsense... Tenten, nawwwwn-SENSE!" Lee threw his head back at an angle that must have hurt incredibly. His hands flew up into the air. Then after a moment, he went slack, and his entire body came crashing back down into the pile Shikamaru had only half raked in. Money flew, along with the cards and coins which sprayed everywhere.

"Hey!" Kiba growled, discretely collecting the few odd bills that had fluttered his way and stuffing them under Akamaru's stomach.

"What the-?"

"I!" Lee shot back up, his head leering forward and circling to all their faces, then to the ceiling, and then to Shikamaru. "I _won't_ be defeated!" he declared, slamming forward onto his hands so that he was only centimeters away from Shikamaru's face. His entire body was swaying back and forth, like a building in an earthquake. Shikamaru craned himself as far back as he could, a mixture of surprise, confusion and massive disgust smeared across his face. "by… you!" Lee finally managed to finish his fuzzy thought. Then, without any kind of warning, the beastling – with his lightning fast reflexes – smacked Shikamaru across the face. "Nooo!" Lee yelled, clenching his eyes shut and shaking it slowly back and forth. Shikamaru sprawled.

"Hey!" Ino started forward angrily, but Sakura barred her back with an arm. She'd seen Lee like this before. And whether or not Ino and she were fighting, she didn't want to see Rock Lee clobber her friend before she'd the chance to do so herself.

Shikamaru sat up slowly, and looked up at Lee, putting a hand to his face. He was glowering. "What kind of idiot ever let you near a drink? Doesn't take much of the stuff to turn you into a nutcase does it?"

"Nutcase?" Lee blinked furiously for a couple seconds. His face grew red. "NUTCASE!?! I AM NO NUT!"

"Okay, Lee! Okay, you're right! Not a nut! Definitely not. Hey! Why don't we go home, huh? I'll walk you." Tenten offered, leaping across the circle and putting her hand on Lee's shoulder. She took his hand quickly and smiled.

Second later, Neji was between them and removing Tenten's hand. Forcefully, he took Lee's shoulders in both of his palms. The green boy's bones seemed to turn to putty for a moment, as he noodled his way out of Neji's grasp.

"Tch." The prodigy made a sound of annoyance as Lee stumbled backwards across the pile of money and Kiba's jacket. The circle broke apart and came to a stand in response to this unfamiliar variable of a drunk Lee.

"Don't try to stop me, _arch nemesis_!" Lee cried, taking up a loose battle stance on the other side of Sakura's living room. His head lolled to the side, his eyes were closed.

The entire room was watching, dead silent. Kakashi and Kurenai had come inside from the balcony, and from beside the couch, Sasuke stared, having never seen this before, but knowing that it looked stupid.

"What's happening?" Ino asked, clearly irritated. "Hey! What's happening?"

"Furry brows is drunk." Naruto said, exasperated, holding Hinata to his side, his arm around the small of her back.

"After one drink?" Kiba slurred, wiping his mouth with the back of his hand. "Pitiful."

"May I ask, _who_ gave him the sake?" Kakashi asked, his eye falling half lidded as he watched the situation.

"Look, it's my apartment and I don't _care_who gave it to him." Sakura interjected. "I want him out before he wrecks something of mine that_ I_ have to replace! Got it?"

"Alright, on three, we dog pile him okay?" Everybody looked at Naruto.

"…We what?"

"Dog pile him." Naruto reaffirmed.

"…Is this really necessary?" Shino asked.

"Hey, watch the way you use that term!" Kiba growled.

Ino frowned. "How could 'dog pile' possibly be offensive to you?"

"I dunno alright!" Kiba slurred angrily, "I just don't like the way it sounds! 'Sides, why don't Akamaru and I just transform and squash him-"

"No!" Sakura slammed her foot down, which didn't have as much impact as she had been hoping for, forgetting that she was only wearing socks on her wooden floor. "No transforming into giant beast-dog-things in the apartment!"

"No squashing Lee!" Tenten yelled at the same time.

Kiba sputtered at being called a beast-dog-thingy when he was cut off by Chouji.

"Alright, alright. _I_gave him the drink, _I'll_do it." Chouji said, standing up from the couch, looking thoroughly irritated. "'Sides, I'm probably the best person for the job anyway."

"No we all do it." Tenten said. "It's going to take more than one person to pin him down when he's like this."

"It can't be that hard." Chouji said.

"It would be easier just to transform and squash-"

"_No_ transform – squashing – _my apartment_ – _Lee_!" Came the jumbled reply to Kiba's comment.

Meanwhile, Neji gave Chouji an icy pearl look. "You'd be surpri-"

"I CHALLENGUH YOUUUU!" Lee suddenly exclaimed. "I'm IN NAME OF THE SPRINGTIME OF-"

"Now!"

"YOU-_OOF_!" A gross crunching noise came from the bottom of the dog pile as Kakashi, Kurenai and Sasuke stared.

"Buh- Biem…. im ba shprengtuhm bof… yoof…" Came a muffled voice at the bottom of the pile.

"Kiba… if you would kindly remove you're dog's tail from my collar."

"He'll move it when he wants to move it." Kiba growled in response.

Akamaru whimpered.

"I do believe he's stuck."

"N-Naruto!" Sakura's muffled voice come from somewhere in the body-pile. "You're crotch is… it's… it's... uh... COULD YOU MOVE!?" She finally demanded.

"I'm sorry, Sakura-chan!" Sasuke glowered as the blonde ninja turned almost as red as his girlfriend. "I can't! Ino's hip is crushing my neck!"

"Deal with it! I want this stupid dog off of me!" Ino complained, pushing at the snowy white bulk that was pinning her down.

"I think Lee's unconscious." Chouji reported from the bottom of the pile.

"That's great, Chouji. _Now everybody get out of my house_!"

* * *

**A/N**: Can you say filler?:P I can... Sorry guys. 


	11. Recovering

A/N: _It's been a long time. we shouldn't have left you -- left you -- without a dope beat to step to. (its stuck in my head. but i didnt have internet at home so i couldnt update) _

**Disclaimer: **_I don't own Naruto._

* * *

_It was cold._

_And the__ darkness was so thick, he __felt as if he had been__ swallowed whole__ by it__. His heart was racing, __but he__ kept himself __cool… __calm….__He did his best to ignore the blood that rushed__and burned __through__ the inside of his __veins__… veins __ - __the __network of life. All one had to do was slice through__ those__ delicate__ tubes, and all the life would leak out… _

_His sword, hilted at his side__ had never__ f__elt__ so __heavy__. It practically pulsed_

_L__osing was not an option. _

_Sasuke__Uchiha__never wanted to lose again_

_H__e entered a chamber of the cave__ where columns of moonlight streamed down from the ceiling, and then plunged__ intermittently__back and forth __into absolute darkness. It was as if someone had __used a__hole__ puncher to puncture through the rock ceiling__ above_

_This was the place. _

_"Reveal yourself," __The cave__ echoed __eerily__ when he spoke__, as if __the rock walls__ had__ never known sound before.__Y__et his voice was still thick and smooth, like black__ silk__ rippling through the air. "Brother." _

_Now was the time. _

_The columns of light were concentrated in the__ir__ center__s__, leaving a __soft __milky __glow to illuminate the __outer circumference. It was within __this milk dust of moonlight, that Itachi's blood red eyes opened, generously complying with his brother's request. "Hello," his__ brother's__ voi__ce was just the same as __he__ had remembered__ And those__ eyes were still __burning, burning, __burning. _

_Nothing had changed. _

_"Sasuke."_

**SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS**

A slick sheen of sweat had broken all over his skin, and his breathing alone showed her that his heart rate must have been through the roof. Sakura watched as his hand gripped at the sheets, imagining, no doubt, that they were the hilt of his sword. Her eyes fell to said weapon, which was propped up beside him like a stiff snake. Cased in black and shinning, the beginnings of daylight played against its skin. Even in slumber, he never let the blade leave his side. It was almost sad.

Soundlessly, Sakura slipped on her coat and opened her front door. A window was open in the hall, and the cool morning air soothed her skin and the remnants of her sunburn. Trying her hardest to be imperceptible, she closed the front door behind her, and left the apartment complex with Sasuke still inside. She hoped he wouldn't wake before she returned. But just in case he did, she'd take a small precaution. She smiled as she lifted two fingers to her lips, knowing he was going to kill her for doing this.

"_Kai_."

**SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS**

Sunlight hit the back of his eyelids, warming his skin, which was slick with sweat, but he still felt cold in his dream. The shadow moved to make a deadly blow. He moved to block and then – he couldn't move. Sasuke's eyes popped open, pupils dilating rapidly in the sudden light.

_What__T__he__. H__ell. _

Warmth drenched his skin. It was daylight and he hadn't even woken, which irritated him. And when he moved to sit up…

His limbs refused to comply. _Move_. He scowled. Nothing.

"Sakura." He growled. She must have sealed him somehow…

"Sakura." He called her name loud enough so that she'd be able to hear him, but there was no response. "…" This was a joke. Cleary it was some sort of strange, really not very funny joke she and Naruto were pulling on him. She hadn't _actually _left him completely unattended and alone in her apartment. _Him,_ the 'possible danger to our community' as Tsunade put it. Sasuke wasn't sure what to be more offended by, the fact that Sakura had actually thought him weak enough to be able to comfortably leave him alone in her apartment, or the fact that her technique of keeping him immobile actually seemed to be working.

He still wasn't sure what she had done to him. Staring very carefully at all of his limbs, he tried to move his arm. His left leg swung out to the side and rested perpendicular to his torso. He could have killed her. "God damn that annoying girl…" Somehow, she'd reversed the neuron transmitters in his brain when he was asleep, so that when he tried to move his finger, something else moved instead. The tactic was one of Tsunade's signature techniques. But he had never dreamed that Sakura of all people would be able to implement something like this on him. "God damn her…" he said again.

**SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS**

Sakura walked in half an hour later, holding grocery bags and dropping her keys onto the table.

"Do the words, '_constant surveillance'_ mean anything to you?"

She smiled at Sasuke who was glaring daggers at her from his sofa-bed. "I bought you tomatoes." She said saccharinely.

"_Constant__. S__urveillance,_ _Sakura_." Sasuke growled.

"What? 'Constant Surveillance?' Might ring a bell…" she said with obviously feigned innocence. "Why do you ask?"

"Is _this_ your idea of how to execute it?" Sasuke snapped as she moved into the kitchen.

"I don't see you going anywhere." Sakura smiled over her shoulder. "I knew exactly where you where and what you would be doing. So I don't see a problem."

"Sakura…" Sasuke growled as she disappeared momentarily around the fat side of the island.

"Alright, alright, I'll undo it." She muttered grouchily, as if she were a little kid who had been called off her fun.

Sasuke curled his fists – well, actually he just tightened a few abs and wiggled a toe.

She came out and eyed him before she climbed up onto the bed and sat cross legged in the middle of his sheets. "You know," she said, resting her chin on the back of her hand. "You ought to be grateful. 'Least I didn't mess up the muscle coordination for your face." Her fingers moved towards his mouth and when he tried to stop her, his knee jerked a little to the side. "You can still talk… make facial expressions..." She tapped the corner of his mouth lightly, smiling as if she had done him a favor. "I could have been really mean," she said, her green eyes suddenly flashing with some sort of mischief that he'd never seen before "and made it so every time you tried to frown, you ended up grinning instead." Dread spread throughout his entire body. Then he really _would _kill her. "But… I did relax certain muscles and tendons around your eyes so you couldn't use your sharingnan very well while I was gone. In case you couldn't blink - that's why."

Sometimes, he swore she was just as evil and twisted as Karin was. "Just undo it, Sakura."

Smiling, she stuck her tongue out at him, it was soft and pink between her lips. "Fine." Before he knew it, her hands were on either side of his face. Her pinkies touched gingerly on his cheek bones and the corners of his eyes, her middle fingers on his temples, and her thumbs pressing the corners of his jawbone.

The contact startled him, and made him seriously uncomfortable. "What are you doing." He snapped.

Looking at him, her features hardened. "I'm reversing it. You want to be able to move around again, or what? If yes then stop talking – you'll mess me up. I just learned this a few months ago, you know."

"You _what_?"

She felt the tension in his voice and rolled her eyes. "Don't worry, I wouldn't have done it if I weren't absolutely confident. But stop talking. You really will mess me up."

Sasuke simmered on the inside, but he shut his mouth and kept it that way until he felt a warm sensation seeping through his skin. In its wake was a disarming calm… an intense relaxation. The warmth and soothing worked its way through all his deep muscle tissues. Things fell back into place again, and the feeling spread through his limbs, all the way down to his fingertips and toes and back again. When he opened his eyes, he almost felt as if she had drugged him. Slowly, her hands left the sides of his face. He could feel the cold points where her fingers had just been pouring warmth through his body. He almost missed them.

"All set." She said quietly, looking at him. "I did a general sweep of your body while I had the chance. I worked out all tensions and small problems from your muscle tissues, realigned everything, swept away damaged cells, reinforced cartilage and bone structures… I hope you don't mind. It's my apology… for the jutsu."

Silently, he looked back at her, his face completely relaxed and unguarded. It was a side effect of being completely healed. She'd seen it before, but she had never known a patient's gaze to be so…intense…yet at the same time serene. She found herself staring back at his onyx eyes, unable to look away.

_I missed you, you know… when you were gone. _

After a moment, the Uchiha sat up slowly, his eyes still locked with hers. The stare was almost… intimate? He was close to her now, so close that she could have leaned in and kissed him with just the slightest movement. "Sakura."He said in a low, smooth tone.

She was suddenly very aware of the fact that she was sitting on his bed. She could smell him on the sheets. "Sasuke." She replied evenly, trying to stop the tingling warmth that was starting on the nerves in her skin.

"Don't do that to me again. Or I will hurt you."

Sakura smiled, and then laughed softly. A threat. How Sasuke-like."Only… hurt?" She asked slowly, leaning forward so that they were dangerously close now. "You wouldn't kill me?" She asked. There was a touch of bitterness in her voice, and he could hear it. They were too close now. And Sakura's eyes were all hard edges of glass in green. There was something in them that he had never seen before. And he didn't like it. They were too close now.

She didn't even know how they'd gotten here. And she didn't know why neither of them had moved away. She supposed it was because they were both stubborn and neither of them wanted to back down. Or else…

Sasuke frowned at her words, and she felt the discomfort spreading between them like wildfire. Trying to shake it off, she shook her head and moved back from him to clear her head. The paucity of his presence was unnerving. "I won't do it again." She said with renewed casualty, swinging her legs over the edge. "Although, I don't see why you're so upse-"

Abruptly, her world took a sharp turn to the left and then folded into itself. She tried to grab the arm of the couch as she began to pitch forwards, but before she even made contact, Sasuke had caught her.

When she looked up, his arms were bracing her, and her head had lolled into the hollow between his shoulder and his neck. Straining, she tried to bring her world back from dizzy strokes by focusing on his eyes. It felt like she'd been spun around a million times, and she was ready to be sick. A faint line appeared between Sasuke's eyebrows as he watched her, glaring. "Sakura."

"Hmmm?" She put her hand to her head as she tried to bring the whole world into focus through two tiny lenses. It was futile.

"This is the third time you've blacked out." He said.

The dizziness was coming back.

"I'm… fine…" She slurred, trying to make her vision stop spinning.

"You're not." He said firmly. "I think something's wrong with you."

She frowned, and remembered his voice fading out as blackness pulled her away. "Don't… tell Naruto or..." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "They would never… forgive me."

She went lax in his arms.

**SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS**

Something was burning. Sakura rolled over onto a pillow to try and block out the smell, and inhaled something that made her feel warm. Hugging it impulsively, she nuzzled her face closer to the scent and felt herself drift back into slumber.

"Fuck." The sound of low cursing brought her wide awake. Opening her eyes, she realized she was in the living room, lying on Sasuke's pull-out-bed, hugging… Sasuke's pillow. Feeling the pink rising in her cheeks, she released her puffy, feather-stuffed victim and poked her head up over the back of the couch.

There was smoke coming out of her kitchen. A lot of smoke. "Hey!" Like a cat, she hurdled over the back of the couch and scrambled into the kitchen, slipping on her wooden floors and catching herself on the doorframe. She met all wall of smoke, and had to cover her mouth to go in. Her eyes were watering badly. Following the sound of human movement and running tap water, she bumped into something tall and hard. Otherwise known as Sasuke's body.

She had to squint through the smoke just to see him. "_S-Sasuke!_" She coughed and choked before she could managed words again. "_W__hat are you doing_!?"

Ignoring her, the swordsman made it for the nearest window and threw it open. Following suit, Sakura ran back out into her living room, gasping the semi-fresh air, and hauled open the sliding door that lead to her small balcony. After ransacking her closet, she found the commercial fan she used on august nights when her air conditioning was out, and plugged it in by the porch to try and funnel out some smoke.

"Ok, let's review the rules." She said, as she moved back into the kitchen. Much of the smoke had dissipated by now, but her eyes still stung to keep open. "Rule one: Don't eat my special cereal. Rule two: Don't use up all the soap or hot water before I'm about to shower. And Rule three: No practicing fire jutsu in my house, Sasuke!"

Sasuke's back was turned to her, his wrapped forearm moving to turn off the tap water and his left grabbing an oven mitt.

"What are you _doing_!" She exclaimed, on the verge of grabbing his considerably larger frame and whipping him around.

But there was no need. Eventually, Sasuke turned himself around, and, looking slightly haggard, showed her what was in his hands. She stared at the strange, charcoal-like substance that was coating her frying pan. "And… what exactly was that _going_ to be?"

"Eggs." Sasuke deadpanned, looking at her. "I was hungry."

**SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS**

(An hour later)

"You know, I used to think I was a bad chef." Sakura said, scraping yellow eggs onto a plain black plate. "I mean, Ino always teased me, because I can only make salads, cereal, spaghetti… I guess I can grill. You know like, meats. _But…_" she turned around promptly, eyes closed and a faint frown line apparent in her face. "Never, in my entire life have I _ever_ met someone _who couldn't_ _scramble eggs_."

The plate made a loud clink as she slammed it down in front of Sasuke, opening her eyes and glaring at him. "But I guess you're just special." She grit out.

Blatantly ignoring her monologue, Sasuke took a pair of chopsticks and began picking at his breakfast. The entire kitchen still smelled like smoke. And Sakura was still smoldering.

"I mean, Sasuke, who's been cooking for you all these years?" She asked, exasperated, as she sat down across from him.

_My team._ Sasuke answered silently. _Before that Kabuto._Did she really think he'd even touched a stove since he left Konoha? His favorite food was onigiri and tomatoes. It wasn't as if those were high maintenance.

"And I thought you liked tomatoes!" Sakura kept going, like a dam that had broken open and now could not be stopped. "I put them in the fridge and everything. You couldn't have just sliced a few with that damn sword of yours, put some sugar or salt on them and been happy until I woke up?"

Sasuke grit his teeth together, trying to ignore the fact that there were frogs and ducks on his chopsticks. He was not having a good day.

"-what's the use of me going out and buying tomatoes for you, putting them in the fridge, and _everything_, if you're just going to act like I'm refrigerating some red rocks?"

She'd gotten up and opened the refrigerator, pointing at the tomatoes and just refusing to shut up entirely.

"Last time I try to do something for you..." Sasuke muttered under his breath.

"What?" Sakura turned around, mid-rant. The refrigerator door was still swung wide open behind her.

Sasuke looked up at her, and stuffed some eggs in his mouth. He had to keep himself from blanching as he did.

"Did you say something?"

Damn ninja hearing. "I didn't." He lied after he swallowed, and she knew he was lying.

Fuming again, Sakura launched into another rant. Aggravating as it was to hear her yell incessantly at him, he sure as hell was not about to tell her that he didn't even like eggs. And he definitely wasn't going to tell her that the person he had been trying to make breakfast for was not himself.

**SsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsSsS**

Training started late on Sundays, so they didn't leave Sakura's apartment until ten. She could tell Sasuke hated being walked around and accompanied everywhere he went, like a puppy, but it wasn't as if she could offer him privacy. At least, not without incapacitating him, and she'd already promised she wouldn't do that again. She wasn't going to take the chance of him leaving. Naruto would never forgive her. And, to be honest, she didn't think she'd ever be able to forgive herself.

But if she couldn't offer Sasuke physical privacy, then at least she could offer him mental solitude. They walked to the bridge where Team Seven used to always meet in complete silence. Not a word was said between the two of them, but strangely, it was one of the most natural twenty minutes she'd ever had with him.

It had gone without saying that Kakashi would be late. So when they arrived at an abandoned bridge, there wasn't any surprise. Sakura merely sighed and resigned herself to waiting. Beside her, Sasuke seemed to do the same. Just standing there with him brought back memories of their childhood. It felt odd to not have Naruto to be jabbering on in the background.

Beneath them, the river swept away all natural noises of birds or frogs, and left them with only the sound of water passing under the bridge. Eventually, Sasuke spoke up. "I need new clothes." He said, looking at the water.

Sakura looked at him in surprise before she smiled and leaned back against the bridge-rails on which Sasuke leaned forward, his elbows propped. "Why? Cotton T-shirts and Khaki shorts not enough for you anymore?"

"Wear and tear." Sasuke replied. "These rags are going to fall off after a few more training sessions."

Sakura smiled and looked up at the sky. "You'd better make sure you're safe and far away from your fan girls when that happens. My fighting off a bunch of hormone-poisoned girls wasn't a part of our deal."

Sasuke eyed her from the corner of his eye, wondering if she'd forgotten that she used to be one of those 'hormone-poisoned girls'. "I can take care of them." He said coldly.

"I know." Sakura replied. "But then I'd have a bunch of bruises to heal and broken bones to mend in the hospital and Tsunade would yell at me for letting it happen." She turned her head to look at him and again he noticed the way her nose crinkled when she smiled. "Either way, I'd have to take care of them eventually."

Sasuke couldn't help letting a brief smile flit over his expression before it melted away again. Sakura either didn't notice or pretended to. "So you need new clothes." She said, looking over the other side of the bridge. "Easy enough… I guess. By the way, Sasuke, when will you be paying me back for all this money I've been spending on you?"

Sasuke looked at her and smirked. "That wasn't a part of our deal." He mimicked.

She looked at him in a moment of genuine surprise, before her nose crinkled and she smiled again.

"You know, Sasuke… I … I have something to confess." Her tone had changed completely, and Sasuke was pretty sure he knew what this was going to be about. The beginning of annoyance starting to infiltrate his attitude. He tried to cover it, but… why did she have to bring this up? He was just starting to feel semi-comfortable with her again…

"I'm still… recovering. From my feelings for you." Sakura admitted.

Like he said, just when he was starting to feel comfortable.

She could feel his eyes on her. And she was extremely uncomfortable under his gaze, but she couldn't turn back now. "I think… you may have…" She drifted off, her eyes remaining glued to the bridge. "This morning, after I took away my jutsu… you might have felt, for a moment, that things between us aren't exactly the way I lead you to believe. I think you may have noticed."

Actually, he hadn't. And it had been a source of huge relief. "I hadn't." He confessed. "I thought you'd changed."

She looked at him, trying to find any traces of a liar, but knowing that he had no reason to lie about this. She looked at him. "Well, it might… it might take a while before I stop resenting you."

_Wait_… He felt as if she had dumped a bucket of ice over him. This was not what he thought she'd been talking about...

"Some days… I really hated you, Sasuke." She said, looking at the ground beneath her feet. "It's different with Naruto. He still thinks of you as a brother. I think he was too close to you to ever be anything but desperate to get you back. But, for me, I… I couldn't stand all the pain you caused sometimes."

Sasuke stared at her, realizing what she must have been talking about. The morning flashed back into his head. '_Only… hurt?' Sakura asked, leaning forwards, her eyes suddenly a little cold. 'You wouldn't kill me?' _He remembered the bitterness in her words. He remembered the way it made him feel.

"But I kept looking for you, even when I hated you, because you still meant so much to me. It's hard to explain. But I guess… you of all people should know what it feels like. To be obsessed with someone you hate, but can't stop caring about?"

He expected himself to be angry with her for that. But for some reason… the anger never came.

"You and Naruto, the two of you still mean everything to me. So, even if I get bitter sometimes, I do still care about you, you know. Otherwise," she paused for a moment and then summoned up the courage to look him in the eyes. His expression, as always, was bare of emotion. She wondered, for a moment, if he could even hear her. "Otherwise, I wouldn't be doing this."

Silence stretched between them. But the river pulled all of Sakura's words away and tumbled them into the currents of water, cleansing them. For some reason, she felt as if this were the only place she would be able to say these things to him, and still be intact afterwards. "I know that was a lot of stuff at once that I probably didn't need to say… but, I thought, you know… since we're living together, maybe we should try to understand each other again?"

Sasuke looked at her, and she could see thoughts and emotions behind those carefully placid eyes. She realized he must have always been being deliberate whenever he pretended not to have emotions or not care. She knew he was alive, somewhere in there. She could see the phantom of a sense of betrayal in his eyes. "I never hated Naruto." He said finally. "Or you."

Sakura smiled sadly at him, and looked at the water. "I know." She said, her skin catching the reflection of the sun against the stream. "But that's because… you never used to love me."

* * *

**A/N**: Aaaaaaaaaangst!

:P review?


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